Cropping and Keeping Image Size

[ricepudding]

I would assume it is important to keep original image dimensions after cropping. I just have "Picture Project" (Nikon generic program they send with the camera) right now and have cropped a couple of things and they are not the right size anymore. How in the world do I keep the dimensions and crop? And is that what I should do?

Thanks....

 

[Sideburns]

try using either ctrl or shift during your crop. that's usually how applications make cropping proportional.
You don't technically have to keep the crop the same..you can crop it to whatever...
It just depends if you want it printed or not...even then...different print sizes are cropped differently.

 

[jedithebomber]

I never installed the Nikon software since I use Lightroom. However most programs out there allow you to lock or set the aspect ratio when cropping, either through a dialog or using the shift or control key when cropping. As for the image dimensions (width/height) your going to loose the pixels you crop out.

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

If you reduce the area (Crop) you will have to re-size. The software will then re-interpret the image, and your old 300 dpi A4 of the beach, will be a 300 dpi A4 of the two people who are on it......


BUT.......

You will have croped out the detail to a degree. So there will be a coresponding loss of the fine detail in the image. Although as long as you have not cropped too harshly you should not notice it too much.

 

[ricepudding]

I don't think this generic program does it......I can't find it anywhere and have tried ctrl and shift and they don't seem to work. I'll have to put it into Capture NX when I get it.

So, rules you follow on cropping..!? I do understand that some detail is lost in a crop that is resized to its original dimensions because it is kind of like "zooming" right? How often do you guys crop and how professional is it to do so? Is ALOT lost or not that much that most people would notice? Is there anything I can do to minimize losing detail? I just hear people on these boards all the time say "crop it out"........is it very common to crop or not?

Thanks!

 

[ricepudding]

I'm looking at it more. What this program does seem to do is let you crop and keep the pic an 8 x 10 or 5 x 7 etc..... but the original dimensions of my pics are 3872 x 2592 or 2592 x 3872 depending on landscape or portrait. When I crop and keep them 8 x 10 they are still smaller than the original dimensions.

Tell me if I print the originals BEFORE cropping could I print them accurately in 8 x 10 or any size? How does this work? And the crop to 8 x 10, how is that different from the original? When I print the pics I just want them to be accurate to size the camera is taking I guess.

Thanks!

 

[jedithebomber]

Those dimensions are the horizontal and vertical pixels. When you crop you are removing pixels from the image so those numbers will get smaller. The ratio of those two numbers will be correct for the size image you want to print. If you crop too much, you will have problems printing to large prints with good results.

It is kinda like zooming in, but think of it as digital zoom. You get closer but the printed image quality will start to diminish at a point.

As for just cropping to a certain aspect ratio you can usually keep one of the numbers the same. So your going to loose some of the image off one of the sides. I know in lightroom I can set the crop tool to a certain aspect ratio. Drag it out to the edges of the image. That gives me the least amount of crop for any given print size of that ratio.

You don't HAVE to crop your pictures to print them in diferent sizes however it is sometimes a good idea to do so since somewhere between your camera and the print the image will be cropped to fit the aspect ratio of the print you ordered. Do you want to decide what goes, or do you want some computer/tech doing it for you.

 

[ricepudding]

These posts are helping me understand a bit. But what I'm concerned about is:

If I set up the composition of my picture to be exactly like I want it when I shoot it but then have to crop it before print.....well, doesn't that compromise my picture? How do I deal with that?

And how does printing something very large work? If my ratio on my camera is 3:2 then as long as I print with that same ratio, I'm o.k.?

I guess I need to look at this more because printing is more challenging than I imagined!