Gedenkniskirche

A place for solitude, reflection and tranqulity. Relax and take in the

atmosphere. Shot freehanded at high ISO. Shot at 24mm but think the

square is better than the original 4:3. Comments on composition, croping

strategy and exposure welcome.

I'm partial to square for many compositions but in this case it might be interesting to see the original just for comparison. This works pretty well though.

Attached you find the original. My intention with squaring was to remove empty space at the edges and frame the people and the crusifix. To me that made it a more balanced composition. 

Its also worth mentioning that I only crop for the purpose to change format. This after Ming Thein´s blogpost "why cropping is bad". 

 

//Einar

4:3 is I think inadvertent. The native ratio of the D700 is 3:2. I agree that the square crop is better for this composition than as shot. However, depending on the rules you have imposed for yourself in this regard, you could crop the original inward from the top left corner and still get a good 3:2 composition.

 

For whatever its worth: my rules for cropping are to stick to the native crop ratio of the camera and sometimes, for the sake of the composition, go with one of the standard crop ratios viz. 4:3, 3:2, 1:1, 16:9. There have been occasions when there have been practical constraints in getting the composition I want exactly right while shooting. At these times I am quite willing to crop while editing - but within standard parameters. Its a discipline which I've got used to. I've also foregone the use of zooms (except very, very rarely) and use just prime lenses. My photography has (in my opinion, at least) improved substantially...

 

regards and best wishes,

rajat

You are right with respect to the D700 frame. Typing error. And as you say there are alternative options available.

 

Einar

After viewing both versions the wider horizontal version seems better suited to the scope of this interior.  The square format feels a bit cramped.  However I'm not sure I'd have that same response if you'd said the original was a square, such as with a TLR or other camera with 1:1 as an optional in-camera aspect ratio.