Cropping photos vs crop in the viewfinder

So earlier I had a talk with another photographer and the topic of cropping photos came up. He had shown be a couple photos that out of camera had some compositional flaws to them. Branches and odd ball items in the frame, after post processing and some serious cropping the photos looked good.

The photographer saw nothing wrong with this, matter of fact when I told him "why not crop with the viewfinder", that you would not loss any image quality vs cropping. He didn't see value in that.

So was I in the right? I've always believed that cropping should be a last resort. Make the needed changes in the camera to insure best image quality at the end?

Thoughts?

With such good digital quality nowadays a little cropping in PP makes little difference to the end result, I like to leave a little extra around the frame in camera so that I can crop to various different ratios without losing to much if any of the main image.

I definitely promote cropping in camera. It will help you develop your compositional eye and you will be able to "see" possible shots better out in the field.

photobod wrote: With such good digital quality nowadays a little cropping in PP makes little difference to the end result, I like to leave a little extra around the frame in camera so that I can crop to various different ratios without losing to much if any of the main image.

David, you hit it right on the head. Unless you are shooting with a 4/3 camera, "standard" prints (4x6, 8x10, etc.) you will lose some of the width of your image.
I too leave a bit of "extra" space around my image for cropping. The super tight crop in the camera eliminates a lot of possibilities. Example: I was cropped in pretty tight on a woodpecker on a log. When the little .... took off, his wings extended off the top of my shot. Lesson learned as shown below.

I pretty much crop the shot when I shoot it. As for the occasional branches and such I clone them out, because sometimes they are unavoidable as are power lines. But the majority of the time I get them out when shooting.

Ahh. Yes. I was just thinking from a landscape photographers point of view. Certainly in baydreams situation (wildlife, sports, and the like) I would certainly leave some space and crop later as needed.

Depends on the situation.

I don't know that there's a right or wrong, I get in my viewfinder what I want in the final image as much as possible.

There are circumstances where you don't have much time to frame the shot, where you either release the shutter and get the image or don't get the shot at all. And it depends on what you're photographing, I tend to shoot pretty tight (which isn't necessarily a good thing) but sometimes leave more room, say if there's something along the edge of the scene that I want to make sure is completely in the frame and not cut off.

If you get a well composed shot in camera, I think it would lead to a better image overall with some editing rather than a less than spectacular shot that needs a lot of editing.

Karl Wertanen wrote: I definitely promote cropping in camera. It will help you develop your compositional eye and you will be able to "see" possible shots better out in the field.

This is true for what you do mostly Karl (landscapes with film). But in other cases it might not be so critical or even preferred to leave a little room and crop it right later.

It all depends though.

Karl Wertanen wrote: Ahh. Yes. I was just thinking from a landscape photographers point of view. Certainly in baydreams situation (wildlife, sports, and the like) I would certainly leave some space and crop later as needed.

Depends on the situation.

LOL I read this AFTER I wrote what I said above. Great minds think alike right?!?!?!?



PERSONALLY speaking, I like to get it as close are right in the camera as I can. But realize sometimes that's not possible or preferred.

Baydream wrote:

photobod wrote: With such good digital quality nowadays a little cropping in PP makes little difference to the end result, I like to leave a little extra around the frame in camera so that I can crop to various different ratios without losing to much if any of the main image.

David, you hit it right on the head. Unless you are shooting with a 4/3 camera, "standard" prints (4x6, 8x10, etc.) you will lose some of the width of your image.
I too leave a bit of "extra" space around my image for cropping. The super tight crop in the camera eliminates a lot of possibilities. Example: I was cropped in pretty tight on a woodpecker on a log. When the little .... took off, his wings extended off the top of my shot. Lesson learned as shown below.

Great shots

Well, my main interest is landscape. And I take care not to crop all that tight. Mainly because I don't know in advance what the output aspect ratio will be. But my main use is online. If I were shooting strictly for gallery prints, then I might crop tight.

sloppy Kelly

I choose the correct composition in camera. I crop when needed, move to the right or left or if I have too I'll even removed a branch myself to get it out of the scene.

I use to try and get as close as I could... zoom in or stalk closer. Then I discovered some shots need to show a reflection so my style changed a bit on those shots. Then I found occasions where the subject got too close and I was zoomed in too tight - again another adjustment. Now I kind of select the crop in camera according to the subject at hand. For birds in flight I allow for their decisions in composition as well as mine. Still sometimes they get cropped too much in the camera...

I always crop as much as I can in camera

I always crop in camera, unless I mess up

I crop in the field.