A Taboo for Some Purists, Cropping in Post Can Be Rewarding and Instructional
Most DSLR cameras capture an image in roughly a 2:3 in aspect ratio. If printed without a crop, a full image might be 6″ x 9″, 12″ x 18″ or 24′ x 36″—or any similar proportion. When I post images on Best of the Tetons, I often crop the images to a 1:2 or even 1:3 aspect ratio to save space on the page and reduce download times and bandwidth usage. Over the past year and a half of making the posts, I have begun to “see” shots that I know will be later cropped. I am learning to “see” in pano opportunities better than before writing and posting to the blog.
On this page, I will go through some of my decision making process using this recent image. Maybe it will help you isolate smaller “gems”.
Full Capture: This is the Box L Ranch on Spring Gulch Road, part of the Lucas family homestead from long ago. I pass the ranch regularly. On some days, the golden willows light up brightly and are complimented (literally) by the blue in the distant mountains. Red barns are always eye catchers. Back in the stock photography days, I always heard “red sells”. When I ask a wrangler or cowboy to “cowboy up” for me, I usually ask if they have a red scarf. Anyway, a red barn often adds to a scene…and throw in a green truck to compliment the red…you get a second complimentary color combination. In the summer, the sun is far to the north and this side of the barn is in shadows. There’s a lot of “clutter” around this barn, but that’s a reality in almost all farm and barn scenes. Farmers and ranchers are notoriously frugal and seldom throw things away.
I sat in my vehicle and took this image with a Nikon D4 and a Tamron 150-600mm lens with the image stabilization feature turned on. The engine was OFF and I used a bean bag to help hold the lens and body still. There aren’t many good spots to pull off the road on Spring Gulch road, but I occasionally pull off as far as I can and shoot with a tripod. I took this shot “loose”, knowing I could crop it to taste later. Normally, I’d used a D800 for this kind of image, but that day, I was testing out the AF Fine Tuning on the lens and body combination. The 35mpx D800 gives me a lot more pixels for later cropping.
First Wide Crop: When I took this shot originally, I allowed for the mountains to loom over the scene, but I don’t really think I ever considered them essential to the scene. The “in-camera” composition is logical. I wouldn’t have needed to capture more of the snow field at the bottom and I wouldn’t have wanted to crop the top at the top edge of the tallest tree. As I mentioned earlier, I shot this one knowing I’d be cropping later, assuming I used the photo at all. The far left edge of the red barn on the left is running along the left edge of the image. Normally, that would be a huge red flag or “no-no”. I wasn’t sure where I’d crop the left edge. Someone taking this image with a large format film camera might analyze and compose this shot a long time before making a $10 exposure. Right? But, that’s not me! The practical artist takes over a shoot like this.
Second Wide Crop: In Lightroom, I was able to do my creative crops with no fear of damaging my original image. I even made a couple of Virtual Copies along the way. (Photo>Create Virtual Copy). In this version, I cropped off a little more of the snow at the base.
Third Wide Crop: After the previous small crop, I decided to take off a little from the top to allow more of the orange dominate the left side. For practical purposes, this is roughly a 1:3 aspect ratio now.
First Side Crop: The red barn on the left was taking too much attention from the old red barn. There was some unnecessary info on the far right.
Second Side Crop: Again, I didn’t like the red corner and white trim on the left barn. I pulled in a little more on both sides.
Third Side Crop: Last crop…I didn’t like the diagonal gate brace pulling my eyes out of the scene on the left, however I liked the single bright fence post to act as a “stop”on the left. On the right, I liked the way the angled boards hold your eye in the frame. For my purposes, this is the final crop. I ended up with roughly a 1:2 aspect image.
Gallery Wrap Crop: If you ever plan to do “gallery wraps”, you need to shoot and crop a little “loose” to allow for the wrapped edges. If you are planning on having an image matted, you also need to allow a little bit of image to rest behind the mats as indicated with the extra light area above. In reality, that’s usually around 1/4″ on most prints.
Final Crop: For a web image or a print image, the crop is applied to the actual edges. There’s still a bit of “activity” in the upper left corner that might draw attention away from the subjects. I could burn that down some. The left fence post is a little bright. I could burn it down some, too. There are two posts sharing a line at the bottom of the roof line on the right side of the frame. I’d prefer they “break” the roof line instead of share it, but that’d mean getting quite a bit lower for the shot or doing some post processing cloning. If I were to actually paint this scene, I’d simply draw or paint them higher. Overall, there’s a nice rhythm to the scene. In other words, your eyes are drawn into the scene and then unconsciously pulled in a circular motion throughout it. Look again, and you will see it! You’ll likely see the red face of the barn with a split second focus on the right window. Your eyes will follow the lines of the metal roof to the truck, down the culvert, up the willows and back to the barn. Lastly, your eyes will follow the diagonals from the gate posts to the green truck where it is stopped by the vertical wood wall.
Artistic Effects: The examples above this image are typical of quick edits I can do in Lightroom before taking them to Photoshop for final tweaking and fine tuning. I added some textures, tonal adjustments and artistic effects here.
Second Actual Capture: I took only two compositions that day. After going through all the cropping steps above on the full image, the second shot that day was amazingly close to my cropped results from the first image.
If I went back to the same place with similar light and shadows, I’d probably take one more tight shot that more closely resembles the crop of the loose image in the first example. I like the additional trees and I like the way the culvert “ends” in the first image. In this one, the culvert takes me out of the scene. If I needed an extra high resolution shot, I could set up the tripod and do a three or four shot image, taken with the camera in portrait or vertical orientation, then stitch them into a single high resolution panoramic image.
On many landscapes, I shoot a normal image of the scene, then I start looking a potential tight pano crop. If if am “on my game”, I see it then and there. Other times, I see it on the computer and go back for the tight crop. The Teton Range is great for this process. Most of us naturally take that big vista scene. Call it the “obligatory” shot. Within that shot, there are probably two or three additional tight shots that can be of even more interest—sometimes requiring a short telephoto lens like a 70-200mm. With no clouds above the Tetons, I begin by looking for the tight shots.
Lastly, unless I am needing to capture a shot to fit a specific frame or the cover of a magazine, don’t feel at all limited by the 2:3 aspect ratio of the camera’s sensor. Back in my college days and art days, it was possible to buy pre-stretched canvasses in sizes like 18″x24″ or 2’x3′. We were taught how to make our own frames an stretch canvasses of our own choosing or needs. With online companies like American Frame Corporation – Custom Picture Frames:, you can order frames and mats of ANY size. No need to be conventional or limited by old standards. Of course, these reflect my personal values and training. Yours might be completely different! Variety, after all, is the spice of life!
Note: I didn’t add my copyright signature to these images but please remember they are still copyrighted. Other images on this site are also protected. Please refer to this Feature Post: THE SEVEN DEADLY MYTHS OF INTERNET COPYRIGHT:
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