Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jim >>This is probably one of the most inane topics bandied about on the LUG. Cropping.<< You penned a pretty long response for an inane topic. I think it's a very important issue, which is why I brought it up. I think Henry understood my original point exactly when he said that we should all take the approach that we aren't going to crop, i.e. that we frame as carefully as possible at the time we click the shutter. Then, if we need to crop later to improve the image, so be it. My point was that digital has taken me away from that mindset. I expect to crop every image. Heck, it's even fun to crop. Years ago my instructors led me to believe that cropping was bad -- a neccessary evil, at best. I don't think I frame as carefully as I used to. In fact, I know I don't. Nobody today ever asks me if I cropped. They don't ask to see the original negatives. I remember vividly when I won top honors in a photo essay. Later my professor demanded to see my conact sheets. He wanted to see how carefully I composed the shot originally. The goal back then was to capture the image in the viewfinder. I'm more concerned about the mental approach than actual cropping. I think losing the "full frame" mindset is a bad thing. OTOH, I don't think cropping is bad. It seems to me that emphasis has moved away from the point at which I click the shutter to what I can do on a CRT. If that's inane just look at photography today compared to prior decades. Is it getting better or getting worse? Dave