Sent from my iPad > Eric Weir wrote: >> I crop often. Sometimes radically. To focus more clearly on what interests >> me in the image. Am I a terrible photographer?
Some wise voices have weighed in on this, I'll see if I can lower the tone somewhat. If there is something that interests you in an image, why didn't you frame that element properly in the beginning? Not intended as a criticism, but rather as a thought question. Ask yourself why you didn't get it right to begin with. Too rushed? Careless? Wrong focal length? I think cropping is a necessary evil. Sometimes you just can't get close enough, can't position yourself to avoid the distracting foreground element, etc. But whenever I crop for composition (as opposed to cropping to overcome the above mentioned problems) I consider it a minor, maybe even a major failure on my part. Cropping for composition means I wasn't thinking clearly when I pushed the shutter button. As it happens, I do crop often, I have many failures in that respect, in large part because I have learned that it is easier to crop than to clone in a missing foot or elbow or other picture element that I cut off by too tight a frame. I often travel to scenic places, often without tripod, and I like to shoot handheld panos. Most often my failures result from too tight a framing in the first place which doesn't allow enough margin to correct leveling issues when stitching. My goal is to reduce the number of times I need to crop without increasing the number of amputated feet and to increase my success rate with my pants. stan -- 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.
