The Cutting Edge of Photography

To view my photography please visit www.rakmilphotography.com and feel free to leave comments

The question is not “should you crop”? If you shoot small insects, if you shoot wildlife, you are almost always going to, regardless of length of lens etc. have to crop. Most of the time you have to crop to fit a normal picture frame. In the age of cameras with ever-larger numbers of pixels our ability to crop and get fine detail are increasing.

Cropping is part of the artistic process, just like editing film is part of the process of movies (though it was a lot more fun when you actually cut film in the dark room and wadded through the shreds and smelt the acetate). Not surprisingly there are strong views. People argue about cropping.  Sometimes their advice is great, other times its “what were they thinking.”

In many photographic forums the assumption is you are posting for comment and criticism. Criticism often comes in the form of suggested crops.

Here is an unofficial crop, and my original is above – the unofficial crops out part the batman shadow but more closely follows the rule of thirds.

Two out of three times the suggestions on cropping are a lot more dramatic than this, its your choice to subject yourself to this and/or accept the criticism.

So what is the lesson I have learned? It’s great to share, participate in forums but accept that there are costs, different views, some confusion and sometimes more help than you expected or than you needed. I have and will continue to post in the same places with the same risks of criticism.

I post in specialized forums so I can learn a thing or two. Passion, in my view, includes the desire to learn do better and explore new things. It does not easily happen in isolation.