Why Crop?

[Vaughn]

...More often, I'm cropping to rid my frame edges of pesky branch boughs that I couldn't tie-back with my handy ball of twine.

I had that problem in Yosemite on my last visit (April) while photographing my favorite waterfall (only exists during high creek flows). Next spring I'll take a longer, stronger rope (and an assistant, perhaps!) if the flows are high enough again.

Thanks for the reminder -- I still have those Yosemite negatives to process (5x7 and 11x14). I have had a couple of photo-trips since then and still have the Yosemite film in boxes waiting patiently for me!

The falls (4x5 carbon print):

[BrianShaw]

No diety declare cropping or not-cropping to be sinful, or vice versa.

[BrianShaw]

No diety declared painters and their methods to be more righteous than any other form of visual arts.

[Vaughn]

No diety declared painters and their methods to be more righteous than any other form of visual arts.

What do you have against fat painters?

But painters do have a historic advantage...but I did appreciate someone's comment about being careful and not looking at just European/western painters use of compostion.

[Drew Wiley]

The world was created in exactly eight discrete zones of illumination; and if some people still believe in a flat earth, it logically must be an 8x10 rectangle.

[Bruce Watson]

Reason(s) for cropping any image during the print making process?

Short answer: Because I want to.

Longer answer: I don't tend to see many compositions in the 5:4 ratio. I mostly see more rectangular images. Perhaps my favorite ratio is the Golden Ratio 1:1.618. But the thing is, I can't really control it. Nature (my main subject) is what it is. All I can do is try to capture it the way I think it wants to be captured. I've found exactly one composition that wants to be square. I've found a number that want to be 1:sqrt(5). But most are somewhere in between. All my film however, has been 5x4. Which means that mostly I'm trying to push a rectangular peg into a square-ish hole. And the only reasonable answer to that problem is to crop. So I do.

[Drew Wiley]

The golden mean is something exactly between barely cooked and outright burnt. But whether it comes out greasy or not, all depends. I presume the Greeks who first described it used olive oil. Somebody like Vaughn probably uses bear fat instead, and wouldn't even call it a carbon print if it wasn't thoroughly carbonized.

[Jim Jones]

There are only two reasons to crop:

1. You composition does not fit the aspect ratio of the camera, or
2. You could not or did not frame your composition properly at the time you made the image.

There are many more reasons for a reasonable photographer. I usually crop exhibition images to fit pre-cut window mats which are sized to fit standard frames which are selected to be easy to transport. This system also makes an exhibit coherent. A few other exhibitors howl at such heresy. To each of us our own OCD.

[LabRat]

Hmmm... Where do I post, cropping or 100% neg usage???
I'll try here...

First, when enlarging we have much freedom to use the neg, so not too much issue to crop a little or a lot so no big deal...
I think where it gets "insincere" is when one does not compose the image the first time shooting, and has to make sense of the composition later, but most people are past that quandary (like major composing on the easel)...

As a commercial photographer, we would routinely use a proportion scale on the gg or draw on a mylar gg overlay the proportions the shot that would fit on the ad page, so that was the new norm beyond the camera proportions, so that's ok... (That was one of the main reasons to use LF, was the look of the image didn't change much at all with cropping...)

Now, I still might compose a panoramic on the gg, and only expect to enlarge the center 1/3rd of the image, but at least planned that beforehand...

But my biggest challenge now is that I compose in my head first, then look at the gg for the first time, and the image is pretty composed, but spend about 90% of composing time just working the edges to figure where the composition begins and ends, as dynamics can be building outside (into)the frame, or stuff in the frame can be building or coming to rest...
That's where I spend my time, but digital LCD screens have really taught me to study this area closely...

But mainly, I don't trust the cut off areas at the edges of some cameras/film holders to give me a true edge, so for enlarging I try to leave a sliver over the edge, and slightly crop into it later, for a safe zone...

Contact printing is different if you print all of the recess, so you really have to nail those edges!!!

Steve K

[Pieter]

No diety declared painters and their methods to be more righteous than any other form of visual arts.

Painters have the advantage of being able to move (or remove) objects as they see fit for their compositions. Photographers have to use other methods (cropping, dodging, burning) it improve theirs. Painters are not restricted (unless they are painting a mural or ceiling) to certain fixed proportions or sizes, either.