I was editing an environmental portrait last night that I made at my son's wedding. The young couple (a groomsman and his wife) were in a beautiful location. It was a hurried shot so there was a few distracting items on the edges. I played with several aspect ratios and slight crops. Finally, the least expected and last ratio that I tried was a square with a slight crop. It made all of the difference. I placed the couple on the right vertical line using the thirds grid and a nice view of a river and mountains was on the left. I knew I would have to crop when I set up the shot, but I did not have a square crop in mind. I now will be looking for square environmental portraits even though I always shoot in 3:2. I do not understand why many photographers think cropping is cheating. Most of the great film photographers used it as a tool in the darkroom.
That's a great story. Thanks for sharing. I see landscape photos in 1:1 all the time and yet I never think to use it. I'm going to have a look through my catalogue later today and see if anything fits better in a square crop.
I nearly always crop my photos can make a massive difference and can allow you to see a picture in a totally different way and make an ok photo look very good
The next time you're at a landscape scene with only 3 minutes of light, sweep across the scene at different eye levels and focal lengths. Can you imagine how many shots you can get in those 3 minutes-a few of which you might like and be able to print at 24" x 36" to hang on your living room wall without cropping half the image away to get the composition you wanted or having to use upscaling software to get the print size you want at a suitable resolution? It's ALWAYS better to get what you want in camera rather than relying on post-production later!
Thanks for posting. Personally, I generally leave the aspect ratio set to maximise the camera's available pixel count and in so doing, allow myself more scope when cropping in post. It's fine to visualise an alternative aspect when taking the shot, but it often restricts you when, in post, you decide you may have wanted more elevation or more foreground for example or maybe a little more side aspect as you describe in the vid for anticipated movement. Think of it more like uncropping. The point is, changing aspect ratio invariably reduces your effective pixel count at the outset and you can't recover those later. Until I deem myself a better photographer, I prefer to keep this as a safety net when shooting in both portrait and landscape modes.
One of the reasons why I love my GFX100 camera is that you can just crop four or five for photos out of one scene. It's like having an extra lens or two in your bag. Go owe 100 megapixels this way too much or guess what It gives you extra lenses that's the way I think of it and unless you've used one you won't quite understand it..... You can't do that on a 24 megapixel camera. But you can't retain the same kind of data, but yes, cropping is fantastic
sometimes I Bring out my 15mm prime walking around for street photography ,the shot I took was bit too wide and I usually crop out bit to looks like 28mm or 35mm on apsc
In my day, it wasn't a rule. It was a technique known as "The theory of the intersection of thirds". There are far too many "rules " today that tends to hold people back, causing them to faff about instead of making images.
I am new to photography and have a simple newbie question.. if you crop a photo in software.. doesn't it remain small but with a black border to it.. is there a way to get it back to the original size of the original photo or to a new bigger size. ? What procedure is this called ?
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I was editing an environmental portrait last night that I made at my son's wedding. The young couple (a groomsman and his wife) were in a beautiful location. It was a hurried shot so there was a few distracting items on the edges. I played with several aspect ratios and slight crops. Finally, the least expected and last ratio that I tried was a square with a slight crop. It made all of the difference. I placed the couple on the right vertical line using the thirds grid and a nice view of a river and mountains was on the left. I knew I would have to crop when I set up the shot, but I did not have a square crop in mind. I now will be looking for square environmental portraits even though I always shoot in 3:2. I do not understand why many photographers think cropping is cheating. Most of the great film photographers used it as a tool in the darkroom.
That's a great story. Thanks for sharing. I see landscape photos in 1:1 all the time and yet I never think to use it. I'm going to have a look through my catalogue later today and see if anything fits better in a square crop.
I nearly always crop my photos can make a massive difference and can allow you to see a picture in a totally different way and make an ok photo look very good
I am teaching my wife the basics of photography, but you do it far better than I can. Another great video. Thank you.
Do I crop? All the damn time. It's essential and I don't stick to fixed final sizes like 4x6 or 8x10 or anything.
Brilliant video, thank you
Glad you enjoyed the video Paul! Thanks for the comment mate.
The next time you're at a landscape scene with only 3 minutes of light, sweep across the scene at different eye levels and focal lengths. Can you imagine how many shots you can get in those 3 minutes-a few of which you might like and be able to print at 24" x 36" to hang on your living room wall without cropping half the image away to get the composition you wanted or having to use upscaling software to get the print size you want at a suitable resolution? It's ALWAYS better to get what you want in camera rather than relying on post-production later!
Thanks for posting. Personally, I generally leave the aspect ratio set to maximise the camera's available pixel count and in so doing, allow myself more scope when cropping in post. It's fine to visualise an alternative aspect when taking the shot, but it often restricts you when, in post, you decide you may have wanted more elevation or more foreground for example or maybe a little more side aspect as you describe in the vid for anticipated movement. Think of it more like uncropping. The point is, changing aspect ratio invariably reduces your effective pixel count at the outset and you can't recover those later. Until I deem myself a better photographer, I prefer to keep this as a safety net when shooting in both portrait and landscape modes.
One of the reasons why I love my GFX100 camera is that you can just crop four or five for photos out of one scene. It's like having an extra lens or two in your bag. Go owe 100 megapixels this way too much or guess what It gives you extra lenses that's the way I think of it and unless you've used one you won't quite understand it..... You can't do that on a 24 megapixel camera. But you can't retain the same kind of data, but yes, cropping is fantastic
Another very informative and interesting video - thanks 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
sometimes I Bring out my 15mm prime walking around for street photography ,the shot I took was bit too wide and I usually crop out bit to looks like 28mm or 35mm on apsc
Do you find it helps you to get the shot when you know that you're shooting wide and so can always crop in?
@@Photography-Explained most of the time , but some picture will end up in bin
Do both .
In my day, it wasn't a rule. It was a technique known as "The theory of the intersection of thirds". There are far too many "rules " today that tends to hold people back, causing them to faff about instead of making images.
I am new to photography and have a simple newbie question.. if you crop a photo in software.. doesn't it remain small but with a black border to it.. is there a way to get it back to the original size of the original photo or to a new bigger size. ? What procedure is this called ?
It's why inuse GFX 100s ii camera ...unlimited cropping
Got lots of “almost awesome “ shots.😂