Cropping my photographs is not something I really think about all that much and for a long time I never cropped any images except for making tiny trims but my attitude on cropping is changing, as I’ve written about several times before on the blog. (Look at the RELATED posts at the bottom of this posts for some of my other thoughts on the subject.) All of which is fitting because today is #I LovetoWriteDay, one of the most magical ways to share your ideas with the world.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”– Ernst Haas
One question I’m often asked at workshops and during PhotoWalks is, “After capturing an image, how much cropping do you do?” Today, my answer to that question is not as straightforward as it once was. Previously, I would have said that I don’t often crop an image, preferring to do it in camera, but these day I tend to crop my images more than in the past.
To Crop or Not to Crop
My original aversion to cropping stems from a time, early in my photographic life, when I shot film and considered the 3:2 rectangle to be sacrosanct. In fact that was probably the thought process I had in my head when making the below image.
This mindset translated itself into becoming the default crop setting for my DSLR and mirrorless cameras. By way of explanation: My first DSLR was a 6.3-megapixel Canon EOS D60 (not 60D) and to maintain the best image quality I crop any images because I didn’t have any pixels to waste. Lately I’ve realized I should be shooting images using the 4:3 aspect ratio that’s “standard” for cameras in the Micro Four-thirds system. Why? By shooting my Micro Four-thirds cameras using the 3:2 ratio, I was tossing away some of the camera’s already skimpy image quality. Duh!
While I initially carried the “crop not, lest you be judged” philosophy over to how I shot digital images, I sometimes would make allowances for trimming the frame’s edges for unexpected surprises that were missed when capturing the image. I’m gradually getting over that kind of thinking too because of Instagram’s 1080 pixel limit and an image format that’s close (but no cigar) to the 4:3 aspect ratio. Sometimes, This idea can be carried to extremes as evidenced by the SOOC movement but as Seinfeld once said, not that there’s anything wrong with it.”
How I made this shot: I didn’t crop this image at all. It’s a photograph of my second favorite tree in McCabe Meadows and was made with a 16-megapixel Panasonic Lumix G85 that I no longer own. The lens was the Lumix G Vario 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 at 14mm that, more often than not, I use in my home studio for portraits. The Program mode (I think) exposure was 1/500 sec at f.7.1 and ISO 200.
I also believe that my philosophy about cropping was influenced by training I received from the late Leon Kennamer, who once told me during a class at the Professional Photographers of America’s original Winona school to “get it on the negative.” By that I think he meant the image on the film should represent the photograph you deliver to the client to hang on the wall.
One of the features I like about Photoshop CS6 (and later) is that the Crop tool gives you the option of maintaining the original image’s aspect ratio or you can choose from a bunch of others. I occasionally like to use the 16:9 ratio because it reminds me of the movies, and sometimes crop a photograph, especially landscapes, using that format.
Two of my friends, who are outstanding portrait photographers, crop their subjects very loosely when shooting often capturing edges of the background, lightstands and sometimes even a studio light within the frame. Then they crop the final image into a shape that may or may not have any relationship to that of the original file or even any traditional image format. That’s not even close to my current approach but then again they’re using more modern, higher megapixel count cameras than my old (in “internet years”) gear.
Please know I am not suggesting you shouldn’t crop, just expressing my thoughts on how I currently approach this topic. You might just want to think about any image quality you’re tossing into the bit bucket when you crop but it’s always your call.
As my friend Rick Sammon likes to say, “The Name of the Game is Fill the Frame.” I think that’s good advice but like everything else on this blog—it’s something to think about, not something cast in concrete.
PS: In January I hope to be working with a personal trainer to get me back to what passes for “normal.” Physical therapy not only did not work for me but actually created problems that I’m still dealing with. My hope is to get in shape enough to restart PhotoWalks in 2026.