Why Not CROPPING Enough HURTS Your Photos
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- Опубліковано 23 січ 2024
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In this week’s episode, we discuss why you don't crop your photos enough and how you can fix it. Cropping is one of my favorite photo editing techniques. It gives you the ability to alter your composition after the fact, which is pretty cool if you think about it. But, many photographers don't use this incredible tool enough in my opinion. In this video, I'll review the three things I think about when deciding how best to crop a particular photos in order to create better visual impact. I hope you enjoy this week's video and as always thanks so much for watching! - Mark D.
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🌟QUICK QUESTION: Do you crop most photos?
I crop a fair amount of my photos. Especially recently as I've spent a lot of time with older photos from my archives. Some of those photos can take on a new life with a different aspect ratio.
I do, because for some reason I cant get my act together in the field for a proper composition and find a better one via post processing. Thank goodness for 45 MP.
Mark....I was just going to ask you the same question!. What would you say? For me, it is probably about 90%
I crop nearly all, I intentionally leave room all the way around an image so I have space to work with in post processing
Short answer, yes I do crop most of them.
Long answer in the comments :)
Love the content this week. One suggestion might be that you mention the original photographers of those images that you shared today. It might help move traffic to their social media sites.
Interesting thoughts but for me if you over-crop an original landscape photo it becomes too claustrophobic which changes the intended perspective of space and tranquillity....
Scene dependent, but in general I agree. I like what I'm shooting to have room to breathe, I'm not afraid of environmental context, and there's much to be said in favor of a dash of Wabi sabi. All the best.
Yes, well photography is all about personal expression. If I take a landscape shot I would like it to remain like that with a few minor edits. If I want a close up, then a zoom shot is best. It all comes down to deciding upon the composition at the outset! @@luzr6613
Agree…very often you need to set the scene, two much cropping and you simply have a photo of “something”. You need to let an image breathe.
I agree with you. On the first crop, my eyes immediately felt like somebody taped blinders on the sides of my eyes and severely limiting my field of view.
This a great and often overlooked tool to use. I would rather start with a larger photo and then crop it in post vs trying to get the perfect framed photo when shooting. So many times I have tried to get the correct framing only to look at the photo later and see that it does not flow well because it was too narrow or tight. Cropping in post is an excellent, non destructive way to adjust a photo later.
Great topic Mark. Cropping is a big part of my process. I’ll try several crops, let them sit, and then return sometime later to see what appeals most to fresh eyes. “Life in the Frame”, what to leave in, what to leave out.
Exactly! I'm the same way - that age old question!
Things to ponder while looking at my photos.
Best crop tutorial I've see,....outstanding Mark!!
I do crop most of my photos. When I started watching your video, I thought to myself, Mark, art is subjective. Then I I saw how you cropped those photos and went WOW! Great job, for me I am going back to do a bit more cropping on some photos.
This is an extremely beneficial video. It reminded me of things I had forgotten. But, I think in the third photo, about 6 minutes in, I will disagree with your conclusion. It's important to have references that the eye can see to establish what is in the photo. The way you cropped it confused my eye into asking: "What is it?" All the other photos, including your photos gave enough reference points so that the eye could tell what was in the photo. In number 3 it will take a bit of time for the eye to understand that it is a stream with a waterfall, or is an alien eating up the landscape? The photo needed to have a bit more reference to establish what we are actually seeing. All the other photos, I feel that you were right one with the crops. Again, a good video. Be safe.
Great video! Such an important topic and you touched on some very valid points and also showed when not to crop the empty space for the sake of flow.
I loved the flowing stream example which looked like a good photo to begin with but with a simple crop it became great!
Always love your videos and Ive learned a lot from you.
I've never understood the no-crop purists. A few things I want to add that I don't think were mentioned:
A lot of modern cameras do have the option of changing the aspect ratio or at least shows a preview of an aspect ratio while shooting, but you don't always have time to figure out the right one when the light is changing in front of you. You might as well give yourself options while editing. I believe a great shot is better than a missed perfect shot.
I haven't tried to find a way to print with a custom crop ratio, but I know if you do, you'll usually have additional cropping done to an image when it's time to print so it's beneficial to use defined crop ratios. If you are able to print at a custom ratio, then you would need a custom frame for that print too. So overall, I would avoid custom cropping.
Mark, thank you for today's lecture. I shoot the season and today I went back through Winter and did cropping as you suggested, Wow what an improvement I saw, again thank you for this weeks episode, I look forward to next week's for future improvements
Thanks for the input. You showed ways to crop without losing that beautiful picture even more beautiful!
Great food for thought. Thank you for another wonderful video.
This was helpful, thank you, I do crop fairly often but this was helpful and gave me lots to think about
I find that when I take a photo I leave a little extra space around my composition so I almost always crop just a little bit. It also helps with having the little extra for fixing perspective and such.
Excellent reminder.
Excellent topic, Mark, and well demonstrated! Cropping is an artform in itself. Sometimes I’ll spend more time working the crop than the edit.
Thanks Dee! I'm the same way - always testing things out
Thanks.. this was really helpful and interesting..
Great video! I found the comments about a square crop especially helpful and I need to experiment more with that crop size.
Glad it was helpful!
Good video and good suggestions, thank you.
Totally agree. Crop tf out of your images! Check out Arnold Newmans photo of Igor Stravinsky and how it was cropped
Great insights. This inspired me to re-edit a few older pictures.
Excellent! Such a simple but SO important thing to do in photography. What a great and practical video. Thanx Mark!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video. I like the guided questions to help think about cropping. Might be a good exercise to review some of my older work to see if I can improve any of those.
Thanks, Mark. I totally agree about the benefits of cropping and do not relate to those who say the framing should be set in stone at the time of capture. Please share any advice you have when it comes to cropping wildlife, in particular the balance for showing an animal it its environment or removing unnecessary elements to where you end up with a portrait.
Excellent video Mark. Great suggestions/tips to put to use when looking at images. Cheers
Thanks Susan!
Great video once again
Thanks Mark for this week's video, there is food for thought in here ! :)
I like the way you present your opinions and your simple and honest manner to explain why doing things your way can be beneficial. It keeps me subscribed and waiting for the next video even when I disagree with something you said or suggested.
As I said in your poll, I crop most of my shots, but the first immediate reason is the only lens I own, a Sigma 24-70mm. Not the best, by far, but the max I could afford. I usually crop to fit the ratio of screens my pics are gonna be displayed on (16/9, 16/10), zoom in when 70mm is not enough, or remove the softness of the edges when using the widest field of view.
And I can't and won't deny the ocasional artistic crop. I have nothing against cropping really, because it can serve so many purposes, for the right reasons.
One thing I utterly aggree with what you said is about the intent of the photographer : what he/she wants us to see. But we, as phtographers, may also have to take into account our audience expectations.
I feel like cropping is getting more and more debatable, but it probably depends a lot on your audience. Mine (is very limited. And I mean very VERY limited because I'm just a random dude with a decent camera) is getting tired of Instagram and the infinite scroll of perfect shots. They still seek beauty and awesomeness, but they want something a bit less crafted, if that makes sense. Some of my friends are talking about fake pictures, which I disagree with (AI does this), and one described some of my pictures as "photorealist paintings". An opinion I tend to share.
My camera is already cropping the scene by nature and technical limitation. So I try to balance my own "work", to bring the beauty forward but with a strong sense of reality, randomness and imperfection.
I have absolutely no way to verify the reality of this shift. I would gladly appreciate any comment on this from you Mark, and you guys if you somehow managed to read through this painfully translated comment !!
Cheers
Great video, Mark! Love how insightful this was. Super important and helpful tips 🙌
Thanks so much!
Great video Mark!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you. Great assessments.
Thanks Jim!
Great perspective
What did I learn ? Yes cropping but you lock the aspect ratio. I have always cropped freeform but locking the. aspect ratio seems to work well. I'm going to try that. Thanks for that tip.
Thank you!
great video! I like your tips and will look at my pictures differently when I go to edit them.
Glad you like them!
Excellent video, as usual! Ratios: In all these crops, you maintan one of the "standard" ratios (4x6, 5x7, 8x10) as the dimensions of your crop. If you crop in, all sides come in, proportionate to the standard ratio you've chosen. I myself have most often used no preset ratio, but cropped with ratios "free". My uninformed bias has been to maximize my creative license and use whatever proportions serve the particular photo image. What are the advantages (and disadvantages) of your approach of sticking to the standard proportion ratios? What are the advantages (and disadvantages) cropping with ratios set to "free", not using the standard ratios?
I welcome *anyone* respnoding to this question, which seems important to me after watching this video. I could use the help.
Thanks!
Excellent video,Mark, thanks. I follow your techniques ,& even as an amateur hobby photographer , I discovered that slight cropping improved my photos. I always review my summer travel photos a second or even third time as a winter project to see if I can make any improvements or just hit the delete button. Just have to cull the herd sometimes.
Great to hear you enjoyed it!
Great idea using the brush as a telestrator Mark. Felt like I was watching Monday night football!
Caveat: I don't shoot with high-MP cameras. I work in the field to frame my shots as accurately as possible. Several reasons... the process helps me understand exactly what I'm shooting / the process keeps me mindful of details in the scene (especially peripheral) / i pay a lot of attention to what would be 'background' / all those lenses I lug around get their chance to shine / I keep the MP i've got for the final image. Etc. And I do crop... but it's nearly always because I've failed to notice a detail. The main exception is if i've shot wildlife on the move - that is, the subject doesn't 'sit' like my collie, or i'm having a 'square day' - in which case I'll usually frame with the aspect ratio in mind. My photography is better for this discipline, but I realise it might not be so for everyone. Cheers for the video and all the best.
To me, the crop on the small flowing stream (starting at 5:45), was the most startling. After the crop my eyes were literally yanked into the middle of the photo. Excellent video. Thank you.
Thanks so much!
Excellent video 😊
Thank you very much!
Another great video as always. I fret over cropping my photos; did I crop too much, not enough? I try to "see" the image cropped or not in camera, but it never fails to look different on a monitor.
Your insight is inspiring and appreciated!
I'm a sometimes landscape photographer with a 600 mm lens in my kit...*that's* 'cropping'.
But, since i 'grew up' shooting film, i'm usually pretty 'crop-conscious' during composition, when shooting 4x5 cost an arm and a leg, and a lot of time....otoh, when shooting 6x7 velvia, one could still crop quite a bit, and keep resolution high enough.
I shot 98% of The time in 1:1, in camera. So I dont have to ‘guess’ in post what may work better. But yesh, cropping is a powerfull tool. Good video
Another great video, Mark, but if you need someone to solve your Rubik’s Cube…lol!
Seriously, this was very helpful!
Definitely will need help with that 😂
Thank you , some food for thought , especially for an improving beginner like myself , I'd love to see what the image at 13.00 minutes would look like if you cropped out the foreground land area and had a panoramic look with the mountain floating in the cloud ....
Thanks, I hadn't thought about the vertical / horizontal lines influencing a crop but it always felt wrong somehow.. Now you say it, it seems obvious..
One thing I’m always mindful of is having an area of the photo that text can be placed over if the photo is intended for editorial use.
Thank for using one of my images mark. Again first one to kick it off. Next time give use a shout out 👍🏻
Another great video, Mark. The importance of visual flow in an image is often overlooked. How often have you cropped and changed the aspect ratio differently from the way that you originally visualised when you took the image?
Great video as alwsays, agr(ee with the reasoning on all shots but still can't get to do this regularly myself as I absolutely hate square-ish aspect ratios with PASSION and sometimes it's the only crop that makes sense but it just turns me off instantly.
I am curious Mark as to your thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of aspect ratios in composition and, as here, cropping.
Great Video !!. Question - In the field how do you keep dust and artifacts off your camera sensor when changing lens ???
Random question. How would you go about cropping to a circle or hexagon? There's a stall in the mall that prints to wooden blocks of various shapes. I assume you'd be looking for a more rounded flow as per a square crop?
Thanks very helpful
What post processing tools do you use?
I love the video and mostly agree with the crops; however, I do wonder if Mark's experience with/love of medium format photography and the 4x5 framing influenced his decisions of where and how much to crop these photos. I think there may be a bit of a bias against the 2x3 ratio.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Still, if one prints, and prints at 300 dpi, there's a sharp tradeoff in crop vs. print size, even (for me) at 45MB. I know your camera gives you more resolution to play with.
Great video - I'm seeing more and more composition decisions and criticism of images strictly adhering to the rule of thirds. I see that in the first two images here for sure. Use rule of thirds as a guide but the best photographers are only trying to find the best way to serve the image.
Thanks so much!
I think you may have over cropped some of these. Especially the portrait waterfall. The image of the water and the rock on the foreground was much better after your crop however.
When you crop, how do you make sure that it will print well in large prints?
Cropping and aspect ratio are two of the most important decisions you make while processing.
When you changed the waterfall image, which was an improvement, you effectively removed "the rule of thirds". Perhaps this says something about that "rule".
Totally agree with the power of the crop. But my question is... Why do you have a red flip flop in your desk?
Hahah! It's a mouse pad
Have you used topaz denoise AI or do you use any type of noise removal in your photographs ? Good job again.
Question if you crop which is not a standard print paper size how do you handle that
All nice and fine but you can't change the angle in post.
Question Mark, you seem to always crop in specific aspect ratio’s. Is there a reason for this? I guess I have always just cropped freely to get the best composition without any care what the final aspect ratio is.
I try not to as I feel having a 21 MP camera hinders me a little when cropping
I once went to a photography class and the teacher said not to crop in Lightroom :-)
I disagree, I believe you eliminating elements that are not the protagonist but ad to the overall vibe and mood, if all we want is the main subject all pictures would be boring. Maybe forcing the subject to create content. Obviously I disagree with you but here I am watching your video as a subscriber and admire of your efforts creating content for our entertainment. Disagreeing doesn’t mean hate it is quite the opposite.
Big fan, keep up the good work.