cropping and aspect ratios

[mark_hanegraaff]

I find that a lot of times, when I try and crop out uninteresting areas of out a

photo (usually during an action or spur of the moment type shot) I end up with a

picture that has an aspect ratio which is very unpleasing to the eye. Had I not

cropped it to begin with, the picture would be less interesting. Are there any

aesthetical guidelines as far what the resulting picture ratio should be? I find

that 3:2 and 1:1.3 tend to look nice. Square pictures are good too, but where

does one draw the line?

Here is an example of a picture (mine, sorry) which in my opinion is just too

wide and looks obviously cropped. A different ratio would have made it less

interesting, but is the trade off worth it?

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<a

href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?topic_id=1481&msg_id=00LYi5&photo_id=6098021&photo_sel_index=0">too

wide</a>

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thanks,

--Mark

[benniehoff]

I tried at first to restrict myself only to certain aspect ratios, until I realized that film comes in many different aspect ratios already (1:1, 1:2, 2:3, 3:4, 4:5, 5:7, 6:7, 6:12, 6:17, etc.), and thereafter decided that I would crop photos any which way I please. Different aspect ratios are useful for different purposes and effects (consider how the photo might be displayed).

 

The only problem, from my personal aesthetic view, is when the ratio is very near 1:1 but not quite; it looks like I intended to crop to a square but made a mistake. So in those cases, I make sure to crop to square exactly.

 

Sometimes also I might crop to 2:3 in order to make it look like the photo had been framed properly in the first place (shh! Don't tell!).

 

In general, for planned shots I try to frame properly in camera, unless I intend something other than 2:3 from the beginning; for action shots I merely try to get the subject prominently in the frame, and crop if needed later.

 

As for your shot in specific, I think the aspect ratio is fine; what makes it look obviously cropped is that there is very little empty space around the subjects (the flower in particular). And also, because the bee and flower feature equally-prominently, it is difficult to tell which is meant to be the main focus.

 

Sometimes I deliberately unbalance my crops so that there is very much more empty space on one side of the subject than the other; one symptom of careless cropping is that cropping tightly on the subject also tends to center the subject, which can take away from the interest of the photo.

[Norma Desmond]

Many people do not like centered subjects. I don't mind them. Often I think they work

quite well and make a starker and more direct photograph. Sometimes, not necessarily in

Ben's case, people feel the need to adhere to the "rule" that subjects shouldn't be centered

more than they just are willing to see each image individually and decide on a case by case

basis. It and cropping are two of the most commented-on aspects of photos on PN. People

will mention centering before even noticing what the subject is. In the case of your photo,

I think the aspect ratio is just fine. There are times when a certain ratio does not work for

a certain image, and then you have to be creative and do your best. In your case here, I

think you're fine. But you are the one who has to be comfortable. The guideline should be

what feels right to you.

[SCL]

I think artistic people crop to the size they deem is most appealing for the specific picture. Ratios are nice, and in terms of consumer grade framing make for lower costs, but in the end...it is the eye appeal which sells, whatever the price.

[tj rohyans]

Ben - Where do you get these other sizes printed at? The local Walgreens and Wal-Mart don't offer a lot of these sizes. And what about Nudes? You can't do that at the local 1 Hour!

[Norma Desmond]

TJ-- I think many of us are doing our own printing.

[benniehoff]

TJ: I haven't yet taken any nudes. And I haven't made prints yet either; I'm pretty new to this and still learning. But yeah, I can see that not matching common print dimensions will result in some wasted space, and frames would be more expensive.

[andykowalczyk]

"Where do you get these other sizes printed at?"

 

I just get prints at 5x7 or 6x9 and crop with a paper cutter.

[Charles_Webster]

I print most everything myself on 8-1/2 X 11 (Letter) paper and cut custom mats for each picture. That way I don't have to worry about cropping to standard aspect ratios.

 

<Chas>