"The Way I See It": Cropping

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Cropping

Cropping images to fit the most popular frame sizes reduces the aspect ratio of photos. Most professional digital single lens reflex cameras (DSLR) are set to shoot a perfect 2x3 aspect ratio. This is because many initial prints are made at the 4x6 size (twice the 2x3 ratio.) But often, you may want enlargements made. These can be the typical sizes like 5x7, 8x10 or 11x14. Each of these sizes reduce the overall image either vertically or horizontally.

Below are several images to show how much of the image is actually lost during cropping.

Let's assume the image labeled 4x6 is our beginning point. I purposedly made this image fit from edge to edge so it will be easier to see how many people get "cropped out" once we start cropping. If an image is shot without any space at the farthest edge of a "landscape" oriented picture (horizontal orientation), you can expect the image will lose some people when cropped. I have placed these in order of the least amount of loss to the greatest amount of loss. As you can see, the worst crop is 8x10. A lot of the image is lost at this aspect ratio.

The second to the last picture is what I would consider the absolute minimum space needed at the far edges of the picture to allow cropping with any of the popular crop sizes without losing any people. It also leaves a very small space at each edge so that the people do not seem so crowded at the edge. Anything less than this would be a disappointment if cropped to 8x10 because you will lose some of the people.

Often, I like leaving even MORE space than the minimum... maybe twice as much. This way, the 8x10 crop will look like it had the space left by the photo of the minimum crop. Since it's hard to know which images I shoot might be turned into an 8x10, it's best to assume all the images might be made into enlargements. The last picture is the original image shot at the wedding.

Vertical images are similarly cropped, but the top and bottoms of the image would be cropped instead.

(Please note that many "point & shoot" cameras do not start at the 2x3 ratio. I'm not sure why camera companies do that. That makes it more difficult to estimate the best inital crop.)