Free hand cropping

[azillian]

I didn't know where to post this, but it seemed like this was the right place. If it's not please feel free to move it to wherever it should be.

I use lightroom 4 to edit most of my photos.... for some reason, when i'm editing my photos and it needs a crop, i find it necessary to hold shift to hold the proportions. It's a habit i can't seem to break that developed during my last job working for an online boutique taking and editing photos for catalog.

Is it bad if i free hand crop??? What are the pro's and cons of holding the correct proportions?

Thanks

 

[The_Traveler]

First - note crop lock that appears with crop tool.

Second, cropping to arbitrary dimensions.

People are used to seeing certain shapes.
I think when you get too far away from the standard proportions then the shape of the picture becomes part of their perception. (note how the pano shape contributes to the content.
Thus I stick very close to 4x5, 2x3 or, very occasionally, square.

 

[KmH]

No, it is not bad to crop to whatever works for an image.
You can also allow for crop in the camera viewfinder.

If you are going to print or frame prints, you may have to order custom sized framing and mat materials.

So many people only crop to standard image aspect ratio - like the 3:2 that is what most DSLRs deliver.
Most P&S cameras used a 4:3 image sensor as do any 4/3 or micro 4/3 size image sensors.

8x10 is 4:5 and 5x7 is of 5:7.