On Jan 4, 2008 4:23 PM, Mark Roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It's important to crop photos. That's how you learn how to shoot photos > that don't need to be cropped.
Okay, let's be serious here for a moment: I know I've always said "I don't crop". Well, I "don't crop" the way HCB "doesn't crop". If necessary, I've always cropped. When shooting film (especially with a rangefinder), part of the "game" is to "crop in the viewfinder" so that cropping a print isn't necessary. There had been times when something was unexpectantly in edge of the frame of the neg such that cropping it out improved the print to a large degree. I've always done that. However, when I've shown or scanned a print with black rebate, that always meant "not cropped". There was never any dishonesty in that regard. Now that I'm digital and shooting almost exclusively with an SLR, problems arise that make cropping somewhat more prevalent. The viewfinder doesn't cover the entire sensor-area, for one thing, and not being able to see outside the framelines (as one can with a rangefinder) makes it harder to see "what's coming into the frame". The reality of shooting with any slr is that it's much harder to know exactly what's in the "actual" frame at the time of exposure, so cropping is sometimes needed. And, of course, now that I'm learning photoshop, it's become a fun exercise. HCB said that he never cropped, but he did (according to his longtime developer). Very rarely, and as that lab-guy said, those few exceptions proved the rule. The vast majority of my digital prints (both real and on the web) are uncropped... cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
