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Cropping – in camera or in the computer?
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There’s been a lot of talk lately about the ‘integrity’ an image with regard to whether it’s film or digital, processed in the computer or not.
I’ve not seen any discussion though about where the shot is best framed, in-camera or in-computer/enlarger.
One of the reasons I’ve still happy with my 6 megapixel Nikon D70s is that I frame exactly as I want at the time of taking the shot. I’m not saying I NEVER crop in the computer, but with only 6mp to play with if I crop too much I end up with a 4mp or less image.
My own preference has always been to go for the shot as I see it in the camera. Back in the old days I rarely printed full 10×8’s in the darkroom because I would lose so much of the shot, preferring instead full frame prints within the 10x8in paper. I’m not snobbish about this (one of my best friends prefers to crop in the computer), I’m just curious about what other peoples thoughts on this are.
I wouldn’t “crop” in camera, but I would always try to frame in camera. No point taking a picture that you know will need heavy cropping, if you don’t need to.
That said, most viewfinders don’t show 100% of the image, so some cropping may be inevitable off camera. Also keep in mind that your shot may not be the desired aspect ratio, so you may want to crop again. Any excess also comes in handy if you need a marginal correction in rotation, or pinch etc.
Tim
If I can, always take photos as ready crop. It deppends on the lens as well.
digitalbeginner wrote:
I’ve just added a poll to this thread just to get some numbers on this
But you’ve left out “Both”.
Always in the camera as much as possible – almost always if I crop in photoshop its a minor crop, only rarely would I completely change the composition by cropping more than say 50% away.
99.99% of the time I frame in camera and then do a minor crop (formatting for print size and/or things like magic ratio) on computer. Although I have at times seen a crop after the shot has been taken and cropped into that.
PeteTheBloke wrote:
digitalbeginner wrote:
I’ve just added a poll to this thread just to get some numbers on this
But you’ve left out “Both”.
I want people to make a decision. Fence sitters can set up their own poll :)
Part of the art is seeing the picture, framing it and capturing it. I generally second what Ciaran said and prefer to frame in camera, cropping after the fact only where necessary.
I’ve never seen anything sacred in framing in camera. Often I see a much stronger square format crop inside my 3:2 frames from the camera, and I’m not about to go and buy a 6×6 fillum camera just to do those ;) I do like classic 3:2 proportions and try to frame well when taking the shot, but if a better crop presents itself later on, no problem for me.
SteveFE wrote:
I’ve never seen anything sacred in framing in camera.
I don’t want to come across a purist in my answer either.. I try to frame in camera because I want to retain detail in the shot so I can brint BIG. But if I see a crop later on that I missed, or is more pleasing, I’ll crop it, all the while knowing I’m throwing away pixels and limiting my print options.
I’ve a negative carrier thats slightly larger than my 6×6 negatives so I’ve been brought up on framing in the camera so I’ve a nice border on the prints. Sadly this has carried over into any digital I do but theres nothing wrong with cropping whatsoever in my book.
ciaran wrote:
SteveFE wrote:
I’ve never seen anything sacred in framing in camera.
I don’t want to come across a purist in my answer either.. I try to frame in camera because I want to retain detail in the shot so I can brint BIG. But if I see a crop later on that I missed, or is more pleasing, I’ll crop it, all the while knowing I’m throwing away pixels and limiting my print options.
Ditto that – I want to try and squeeze every last pixel out of my 1.6x crop sensor and cropping after taking the shot is no different to a digital zoom that you find in cheap compacts – you’re just throwing away pixels. Having said that, there have often been times when I’ve wished I could do a “negative” crop :D And I’ve often been told that I go in too tight (even during my film shooting days this was a problem). I suppose that can either be attributed to my particular style or just bad photography, depending on your POV.
I agree with the framing in camera
Although I do a lot of audio visual shows, which are never the same aspect ratio as the camera so i quite often do crops and some of them can be quite massive. For example I am working on the Irish Theatre Awards at the moment which is projected on a screen 30ft * 9ft.
I needed some horizontal clouds ( I think they are called stratus) for part of the graphics. so I shot some over Dun Laoghaire harbour. then cropped about half the image from the bottom and maybe 10% from the top.
Another example is, I quite often shot things as textures for presentations, in this case i may use the whole image or only part of it, but then generally have to radically change the aspect ratio, or use different parts of the image to create annimated backgrounds
So what i am trying to say, it depends on what the photo is for. And because I see photography as a content creation method then cropping is ok if it gets what you want or need.
I would agree with Ciaran’s comments.
I would be prepared to crop if I discovered something more pleasing in post processing. In these rare cases I might have to accept that I may only be able to offer A4 rather than A3 prints for sale so it would have to be something special.
Andy
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