What is Cropping?
Cropping is when you change the native format of a photo to something else. For example, my camera is set to take and display a file that has a ration of 4:6. When I take a photo and preview it on my camera, that file would look the same if printed at 4x6, 8x12 or 16x24. I am not very quick at math, but I bet you have already figured out that the 4 and the 6 divide into each of those sets of prints sizes equally!
Cropping happens during the editing process, and it's not just about a frame size, it's about making the image look great within a shape that flatters it. So, it's not about the size of the frame, it's about the shape of the frame size. Does that make sense? It's about whether you want an image that is more square than rectangular, basically!
An original 4:6 ratio provides 4x6, 8x12, 16x24, 32x48 prints with no loss of subject due to cropping. This scene looks fine as a rectangular shape.
You can see from the green line that quite a bit of the image is lost when cropped from a 4:6 ratio to a 4:5 (8x10 image) Because there is lots of space around the horse, any of these crops would look good. (Personally, I prefer the4:6 just because the horse seems to be looking at something in the distance and the 4:6 gives that extra bit of space as she gazes off.
Sometimes, you might see a image in your gallery that is already cropped to 8x10, and you think you'd like to have a smaller 4x6 print or a larger 8x12... both going from a 4:5 to a 4:6 ratio. As you can see, going from the almost square 8x10 to the very rectangular 4x6 cuts out a fair bit of the image. Imagine what a 9x16 would look like! This is particularly important if your subject fills the whole frame. With the lovely gray mare in the photos above there is still lots of room as all that is being lost is some shoulder on the left and sky and field on the right. The crop still works here, but I prefer the 8x10 (4:5) as there is more horse shown and there is a bit more open space on the right for balance.
Here, you can see how I've taken an 8x10 and cropped it to a 4:6. You could decide which crop you like best before ordering a print.I like them both!
So how can you decide what crop is right for you? The easiest thing to do is to decide before your session and discuss with your me, your photographer, what size images you'd like to have. If you're not sure, then when I take the images I'll leave enough room around the edges of the scene to make a clean crop later that is balanced and looks good.
However, if you're looking at your gallery now and are not sure, the best thing is to ask me! I can advise as to what crop will look best and can show you what another ratio would look like on a chosen image. That way, you don't have to guess and be sure that you are ordering the crop that will work best for you!
