Cropping

[alvaro_morales]

Hi everybody, I got a question(it could sound stupid for some...but anyway)

Can anybody tell me what is cropping??

How is it made??

And...why is important to have a good image quality to do so??

If it is just cutting the picture, there is no reason of good quality. Am I

right??

I ask this because I saw a report stating that in order to crop a picture, it

is needed to have good quality...

[Brian]

I think the comment about needing good quality in order to crop refers to resolution, or sharpness, of the original image. The cropped image is likely to be enlarged more than the original, so it needs to be able to stand more enlargement, therefore has to have good resolution.

[alvaro_morales]

I see, so cropping is basically enlarging the picture...does it has something to do with cutting the picture up?

[shawngibson]

Cropping does not mean enlarging, it means changing the shape by cutting some of it out, if some of it is bad or you just don't want to see it.

 

Enlarging mean making in bigger, and what the person probably meant is that if you crop it, you will often have a harder time making a high-quality enlargement because you have, by cropping it, made the picture smaller, which means you have to enlarge it more usually.

 

Hope that makes sense.

 

Shawn

[shawngibson]

Sorry - typos: "Enlarging mean making in bigger"

 

Enlarging means making it bigger

 

Shawn

[mike cary]

Alvaro Morales , aug 11, 2006; 10:56 a.m.

"I see, so cropping is basically enlarging the picture...does it has something to do with cutting the picture up?"

 

This depends on the sizes of the input and output files. IE to make a 11x14 print at 300 PPI from a 8MP DSLR file would require enlarging the image, but making the same size print from a 2000-4000DPI scan of a MF negative/slide might require reducing the size of the image/file.

 

 

Mike

[rippo]

cropping is enlarging (usually) AND selecting a portion of the original image to retain. it's not cutting the print itself, it's enlarging the image so that some of it doesn't make it into the picture. this is usually done to put more attention on the subject matter, to improve the overall composition etc.

 

here's an example (see attachment)

 

note that the left and right images are the same size. however a portion of the first image was selected and enlarged. the area outside the 'crop area' was discarded. so if the image wasn't of high resolution to begin with, the enlargement might start to show imperfections or fuzziness. but this is true for any enlargement, whether you're cropping it or just making the whole thing bigger.<div></div>

[shawngibson]

I definitely didn't mean 'to cut' the photo or negative itself...sorry about that. I meant 'cut it out' of the print by not including it when making the enlargement.

 

I've never used the term crop to mean enlarge, though. To me they have always been 2 parts of the same process, i.e., cropping and enlarging the original file or negative to get a bigger print. You crop it to get the shape/composition you desire, and you enlarge it to bring it up to the size you want.

 

Shawn