What is your normal cropping guidlines that you follow?

[Scatterbrained]

.......... Say you shoot with a 3:2 ratio and during post-process you decide to crop for composition. Are you setting your crop ratio to 3:2 as well and do you ALWAYS use this same setting? I read a bunch of posts on here regarding print sizes, etc. but I was just curious if I should be cropping for one ratio every time..............................


Thanks

If you have an image that might sell at different aspect ratios (say a 5x7 and an 8x10), don't crop it during post. Crop to the aspect ratios needed when they are needed; i.e., when someone says "can I get this in 5x7?" you can create a virtual copy in Lr and crop it to 5x7. Meanwhile you can have one VC cropped at 8x10 for display. This way if you need to print in a different aspect ratio you're not stuck cropping into an image that was already cropped before the post work was complete. Basically, crop last.

Of course if you're selling something like still lifes or landscapes then by all means crop whenever you want to whatever aspect ratio you feel best suits the image.

 

[Santa_Claus]

I have to rough crop before uploading "proofs" to SmugMug, but must have enough image to allow for every aspect ratio someone might order a print in. I use the aspect ratio overlay in Lightroom to make sure I don't get too tight. Here is a screen grab from the Adobe blog:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/files/2013/05/25-CropAspectOverlay.jpg

(Reposted as a link, sorry)

 

[D-B-J]

Step 1. Identify the bits that don't support the photo.
Step 2. Remove them.

This is what I do. And then inform the client of their different crop sizes on the final print.

Jake

 

[SCraig]

Why are you taking photos if you never print

Same reason I don't presumably: He doesn't want to.

Mine are cropped 3:2 and I very seldom vary from that. Maybe an occasional 5:4 but never, ever square.

 

[gsgary]

Why are you taking photos if you never print

Same reason I don't presumably: He doesn't want to.

Mine are cropped 3:2 and I very seldom vary from that. Maybe an occasional 5:4 but never, ever square.

Personally i think it's pointless taking up photography and not printing

 

[IgsEMT]

With our studio its all over: 2x3, 1x1, 4x5ish, 2x1 and sometimes 3x1. Its all about that particular image and how it looks better.

 

[SCraig]

Personally i think it's pointless taking up photography and not printing

To each their own.

 

[gsgary]

Personally i think it's pointless taking up photography and not printing

To each their own.

It makes having a good camera pointless because you never see what it is capable of

 

[SCraig]

It makes having a good camera pointless because you never see what it is capable of

As I said, TO EACH THEIR OWN. You do things your way and I'll do things my way.

I've printed hundreds of photographs in a darkroom, both B&W and color, so I've done my share. I know perfectly well what my cameras are capable of and these days I don't necessarily need to print every image I shoot to see it.

'Nuf said on this subject.

 

[gsgary]

It makes having a good camera pointless because you never see what it is capable of

As I said, TO EACH THEIR OWN. You do things your way and I'll do things my way.

I've printed hundreds of photographs in a darkroom, both B&W and color, so I've done my share. I know perfectly well what my cameras are capable of and these days I don't necessarily need to print every image I shoot to see it.

'Nuf said on this subject.

Thats what digital does to you

 

[W.Y.Photo]

Original Aspect Ratio forlyfe

 

[CameraClicker]

Portraits are usually 5 X 7 or 8 X10. Photos in books are varied sizes based on the book's shape and page layout. Landscape, portrait and square crops of various sizes go on Flickr. If there will be a series that might be in a slide show, I try to keep the crop, size and orientation the same because it's a less jarring experience.

 

[rexbobcat]

It makes having a good camera pointless because you never see what it is capable of

False.

 

[Santa_Claus]

Personally i think it's pointless taking up photography and not printing

To each their own.

It makes having a good camera pointless because you never see what it is capable of

That strikes me as funny because a couple of decades ago the ultimate expression of the photographer's art was shooting to slide film and displaying slideshow... Seems pretty analogous to displaying on an HD screen. Just sayin'.

 

[Josh66]

However, I try to avoid square

Try it, you might like it.