Cropping help and Aspect ratio

[Shafty]

So I've been thinking of getting some of my photos printed and I've ran into a few problems.

When I take a photo my camera uses 16:9,I can change this to 3:2 also. Which should I use and why?

When it comes to processing the image in light room I like to crop the image to make it look better and to find other interesting things in a photo.
How does printing an image with a "free" crop tie into printing?

Recently I've found that you can use a locked aspect ratio, would I be better of cropping using one of these aspects for printing?

Thanks

 

[Derrel]

16:9 in a landscape orientation of the camera is very wide, but not very "tall". In a vertical orientation, it is very tall, but not very wide. Subject matter and scene largely determines what crop is used. 3:2 suffers the same issues as does 16:9, to a smaller degree however. Some people prefer different aspect rations, like 1:1, or 4:3, or 4:5. Kind of depends!

 

[jcdeboever]

I shoot 3:2 (landscapes) because that is what my camera gives me, or 16:9, or 1:1. For portraits, I give extra room around the 3:2 and center subject so I can crop a 5:4 image to make it easy to buy a frame off the shelf. Same applys to landscapes.

Aspect Ratio, Cropping and Saving Your Photos

 

[astroNikon]

In LightRoom also make sure to not just Freehand crop, but use the specific cropping formats

many times if the lock to the Right is OPEN, then you are in freehand crop and you can make the crop any shape you want.

 

[Shafty]

I shoot 3:2 (landscapes) because that is what my camera gives me, or 16:9, or 1:1. For portraits, I give extra room around the 3:2 and center subject so I can crop a 5:4 image to make it easy to buy a frame off the shelf. Same applys to landscapes.

Aspect Ratio, Cropping and Saving Your Photos

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I looked at that site, I managed to confuse myself

 

[jcdeboever]

I shoot 3:2 (landscapes) because that is what my camera gives me, or 16:9, or 1:1. For portraits, I give extra room around the 3:2 and center subject so I can crop a 5:4 image to make it easy to buy a frame off the shelf. Same applys to landscapes.

Aspect Ratio, Cropping and Saving Your Photos

View attachment 141602

View attachment 141603

I looked at that site, I managed to confuse myself

I can imagine. It really starts with pre visualization. See your image before you take it. That way, you can frame accordingly. The more you do this, the easier it becomes. It also helps to get familiar with all the focal lengths of your lens but takes some practice. I literally can see a scene and know what lens to grab, providing I brought it....

The cheat sheet pretty much lays it out. If your not printing, it doesn't matter much. BUT, it doesn't hurt to give some space around your image. I turn the thirds grid, and level line on in my view finder, that helps a great deal.

 

[Shafty]

So I would be better shooting in 1:1 or 3:2 and leaving room so I can crop to which ever size is needed?

 

[Braineack]

shoot at whatever your sensor is (4:3), then crop.


if you're shooting at 16:9, the camera is already cropping down your image (about half the size).

 

[Designer]

When I take a photo my camera uses 16:9,I can change this to 3:2 also. Which should I use and why?

When it comes to processing the image in light room I like to crop the image to make it look better and to find other interesting things in a photo.
How does printing an image with a "free" crop tie into printing?

Recently I've found that you can use a locked aspect ratio, would I be better of cropping using one of these aspects for printing?

Why do you have your camera set to 16:9?

Why not use the factory default ratio?

"Free" crops need to be custom matted, or make a custom frame.

The final crop ratio depends on how you wish to display your photograph. Before printing, you should have some idea of how you want to frame and display the print, including the size, the final aspect ratio, any matting, what color mat, what style/color of frame, etc.

 

[Shafty]

shoot at whatever your sensor is (4:3), then crop.


if you're shooting at 16:9, the camera is already cropping down your image (about half the size).

Ah ok thanks , My sensor is 3:2

When I take a photo my camera uses 16:9,I can change this to 3:2 also. Which should I use and why?

When it comes to processing the image in light room I like to crop the image to make it look better and to find other interesting things in a photo.
How does printing an image with a "free" crop tie into printing?

Recently I've found that you can use a locked aspect ratio, would I be better of cropping using one of these aspects for printing?

Why do you have your camera set to 16:9?

Why not use the factory default ratio?

"Free" crops need to be custom matted, or make a custom frame.

The final crop ratio depends on how you wish to display your photograph. Before printing, you should have some idea of how you want to frame and display the print, including the size, the final aspect ratio, any matting, what color mat, what style/color of frame, etc.

I dunno, I've only seen 16:9 in PC and video so I assumed this would be best.

I'm thinking of making a scrap book of my favorite images.Just to get an idea of how the photo is printed, I wouldn't do it myself, I'll leave that to the pro's

 

[dennybeall]

For me taking the photo and printing the photo are two different things so I'll always take photos at the camera maximum. Cropping for printing and display can result in many different aspect ratios.

 

[AlanKlein81 20]

It's tricky. If you plan to make a book, slide show or anything where you're viewing multiple images, you want to standardize so you have consistency. So even if you crop, crop to a particular format such as 3:2 on all your photos. 3:2 has also common available print size and frames.

However, if you want the crop to best represent what you feel what makes one image the best, you should forget standard formats and just crop the picture to what looks best. If you want to frame it, you have to have some one provide the exact opening on mat paper to fit your picture with a custom frame size as well.

16:9 is another format that will challenge your sanity. It's certainly nice to fill up the screen on an iPad, desktop monitor or HDTV. Of course 3:2 will work but you have those black borders on the sides. So you can shoot 16:9 to begin with or 3:2 or 4"3 if you have them and then crop to 16:9 that looks best. The latter 3"2 or 4"3 methods gives more height and width pixels to choose from. But sometimes, if you format in the camera for best picture, when you try to change the format tp 16:9 or another size, it just won't work. You wind up chopping off top of heads or feet or other things and you can't get a good crop. If you shoot in camera 16:9, then you will frame the picture in the camera for the best shot at 16:9 so you won't have the same problem as before. The other issue with 16:9 is if you eventually want to add movie clips to your slide show on the TV or computer monitor or iPad. Movies are 16:9. So if you mix 4:3 or 3:2, it may look weird. In which case you want slide show to have still as well in 16:9.

I hope I haven't made you sorry you asked the question. Maybe I just gave too much info you don't need. Anyway have fun and try different ways to see what works for you.

 

[Gary A.]

I have Full-Frame, APS-C and MFT cameras. I try to fill the frame with the final image leaving no cropping in post or in printing. When I print to a paper size which is not proportional to the image file, I still print without cropping by printing smaller than the paper size and make up the difference with multiple and borders of varying widths.

 

[vintagesnaps]

My digital camera is at 4:3 with a crop sensor. Whether I'm shooting digitally or on film or with a Polaroid I get what I want recorded (on the media card or film) in my viewfinder.

The only time I plan to crop later is shooting film (depending on the subject) if I know I'll want an 8x10 because an enlargement from 35mm film will be 8x12 and I'll need to crop it.