100% crop

wildman · 05-18-2009, 01:04 AM

Originally posted by GerryL

I'm still confused..

Now I know I really stink at math!

OK. Perhaps this will be more intuitive:

Take a newspaper and cut out with a scissors the headlines and keep the headlines and throw the rest away.

Look at the part you kept.
Is the fonts a different size after you cut out the headlines? No
Is there anything about the part of the newspaper you kept different than when it was a part of the newpaper? No
Is any math required to do this? No

This is analogous to a so-called "100 percent crop" in digital photography.
You are taking the original file (the whole newspaper) and arbitrarily selecting, a part of that file (the headlines) and saving it as a different file from the original.

It's a no-brainer.

Last edited by wildman; 05-18-2009 at 01:20 AM.

bogiesbad · 05-18-2009, 02:49 AM

Originally posted by wildman

OK. Perhaps this will be more intuitive:

Take a newspaper and cut out with a scissors the headlines and keep the headlines and throw the rest away.

Look at the part you kept.
Is the fonts a different size after you cut out the headlines? No
Is there anything about the part of the newspaper you kept different than when it was a part of the newpaper? No
Is any math required to do this? No

This is analogous to a so-called "100 percent crop" in digital photography.
You are taking the original file (the whole newspaper) and arbitrarily selecting, a part of that file (the headlines) and saving it as a different file from the original.

It's a no-brainer.

So if you cut out just one letter of the headline that is also a 100% crop?

mattdm · 05-18-2009, 04:12 AM

Originally posted by bogiesbad

So if you cut out just one letter of the headline that is also a 100% crop?

Err, yes. Or one letter from the text.

The thing that's "100%" is the scale. The crop isn't actually 100% of anything. It's a dumb term, but it's what everyone online seems to use.

bogiesbad · 05-18-2009, 04:29 AM

Originally posted by mattdm

Err, yes. Or one letter from the text.

The thing that's "100%" is the scale. The crop isn't actually 100% of anything. It's a dumb term, but it's what everyone online seems to use.

So any size crop is still 1:1...or 100%. Simple enough....thanks.

wildman · 05-18-2009, 04:29 AM

Originally posted by bogiesbad

So if you cut out just one letter of the headline that is also a 100% crop?

If you cut out any part of the original file no matter how big, how small, what part of the original nor the shape of the crop and save without resizing you have made a 100 percent crop.

The only requirement is that the subset of the data you have saved has an exact 1:1 correspondence, pixel by pixel, to the same data when it was part of the original file.
How do you do this? - by doing nothing. Just save the selected data to file.

It's not really your fault. "100 percent" crop is a poor term. I think it would be at least more accurate, if not clearer, to call it a 1:1 crop.

But forget about numbers - you are over-thinking.

johnmflores · 05-18-2009, 04:55 AM

Originally posted by wildman

OK. Perhaps this will be more intuitive:

Take a newspaper and cut out with a scissors the headlines and keep the headlines and throw the rest away.

Look at the part you kept.
Is the fonts a different size after you cut out the headlines? No
Is there anything about the part of the newspaper you kept different than when it was a part of the newpaper? No
Is any math required to do this? No

This is analogous to a so-called "100 percent crop" in digital photography.
You are taking the original file (the whole newspaper) and arbitrarily selecting, a part of that file (the headlines) and saving it as a different file from the original.

It's a no-brainer.

great explanation. To take this one step further...

Say that you wanted to take a copy of the newspaper and place it in a 10"x10" scrapbook. You'd put the newspaper on a copier and copy it at a percentage - say 20% or so - so that the copied size fits in the scrapbook.

In the process, you've lost some of the fine details. This is what happens to most photos displayed here - the newspaper is the photo and the scrapbook is the website.

If the purpose of the scrapbook was to show the print quality of the newspaper, you'd pick a section that was smaller than 10"x10" and cut it out. That's what is commonly known as a 100% crop.

And while you technically don't need to zoom to 100% in Photoshop or 1:1 in Lightroom, doing so makes it easier to pick the right section and cut out a size that will fit on a web page. For the web, cropping an image down to 400x400 pixels or so should be fine - it will fit on the page without having to be reduced.

Marc Sabatella · 05-18-2009, 10:50 AM

Or, think of Silly Putty. A 100% is what you get when you press the stuff agaisnt the newspaper. If you then stretch it, you're resizing, and it's no longer 100%. Of course, with silly putty, we usually stretch to make it bigger; in processing of digital photos for web display we usually resize to make it smaller. But the same idea applies - when you do the crop, no matter how big an area you crop, it's always 100%, *until you resize it*.

Yohan Pamudji · 05-18-2009, 11:09 AM

Marc has said it very nicely and thoroughly, so I don't know if my comment will add anything, but I'll try anyway

"100% crop" is a misnomer. In actuality, it doesn't have to be a "crop" at all! You could post a full photo, uncropped, and as long as it's not resized it qualifies as a 100% crop.

The idea is that you want to show how the image looks at the pixel level without any resizing, because resizing hides and smooths over a multitude of image quality issues, for instance noise, softness, etc. So as long as you're not resizing the image, however big the crop is it's a 100% crop.

05-18-2009, 04:29 AM	#20
wildman Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Flyover America Posts: 4,469	Originally posted by bogiesbad So if you cut out just one letter of the headline that is also a 100% crop? If you cut out any part of the original file no matter how big, how small, what part of the original nor the shape of the crop and save without resizing you have made a 100 percent crop. The only requirement is that the subset of the data you have saved has an exact 1:1 correspondence, pixel by pixel, to the same data when it was part of the original file. How do you do this? - by doing nothing. Just save the selected data to file. It's not really your fault. "100 percent" crop is a poor term. I think it would be at least more accurate, if not clearer, to call it a 1:1 crop. But forget about numbers - you are over-thinking. Last edited by wildman; 05-18-2009 at 04:34 AM.

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05-18-2009, 01:04 AM	#16
wildman Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Flyover America Posts: 4,469	Originally posted by GerryL I'm still confused.. Now I know I really stink at math! OK. Perhaps this will be more intuitive: Take a newspaper and cut out with a scissors the headlines and keep the headlines and throw the rest away. Look at the part you kept. Is the fonts a different size after you cut out the headlines? No Is there anything about the part of the newspaper you kept different than when it was a part of the newpaper? No Is any math required to do this? No This is analogous to a so-called "100 percent crop" in digital photography. You are taking the original file (the whole newspaper) and arbitrarily selecting, a part of that file (the headlines) and saving it as a different file from the original. It's a no-brainer. Last edited by wildman; 05-18-2009 at 01:20 AM.

05-18-2009, 02:49 AM	#17
bogiesbad Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Lower AL Photos: Albums Posts: 355	Originally posted by wildman OK. Perhaps this will be more intuitive: Take a newspaper and cut out with a scissors the headlines and keep the headlines and throw the rest away. Look at the part you kept. Is the fonts a different size after you cut out the headlines? No Is there anything about the part of the newspaper you kept different than when it was a part of the newpaper? No Is any math required to do this? No This is analogous to a so-called "100 percent crop" in digital photography. You are taking the original file (the whole newspaper) and arbitrarily selecting, a part of that file (the headlines) and saving it as a different file from the original. It's a no-brainer. So if you cut out just one letter of the headline that is also a 100% crop?

05-18-2009, 04:12 AM	#18
mattdm Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Boston, MA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,948	Originally posted by bogiesbad So if you cut out just one letter of the headline that is also a 100% crop? Err, yes. Or one letter from the text. The thing that's "100%" is the scale. The crop isn't actually 100% of anything. It's a dumb term, but it's what everyone online seems to use.

05-18-2009, 04:29 AM	#19
bogiesbad Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Lower AL Photos: Albums Posts: 355	Originally posted by mattdm Err, yes. Or one letter from the text. The thing that's "100%" is the scale. The crop isn't actually 100% of anything. It's a dumb term, but it's what everyone online seems to use. So any size crop is still 1:1...or 100%. Simple enough....thanks.

05-18-2009, 04:55 AM	#21
johnmflores Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Somerville, NJ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,361	Originally posted by wildman OK. Perhaps this will be more intuitive: Take a newspaper and cut out with a scissors the headlines and keep the headlines and throw the rest away. Look at the part you kept. Is the fonts a different size after you cut out the headlines? No Is there anything about the part of the newspaper you kept different than when it was a part of the newpaper? No Is any math required to do this? No This is analogous to a so-called "100 percent crop" in digital photography. You are taking the original file (the whole newspaper) and arbitrarily selecting, a part of that file (the headlines) and saving it as a different file from the original. It's a no-brainer. great explanation. To take this one step further... Say that you wanted to take a copy of the newspaper and place it in a 10"x10" scrapbook. You'd put the newspaper on a copier and copy it at a percentage - say 20% or so - so that the copied size fits in the scrapbook. In the process, you've lost some of the fine details. This is what happens to most photos displayed here - the newspaper is the photo and the scrapbook is the website. If the purpose of the scrapbook was to show the print quality of the newspaper, you'd pick a section that was smaller than 10"x10" and cut it out. That's what is commonly known as a 100% crop. And while you technically don't need to zoom to 100% in Photoshop or 1:1 in Lightroom, doing so makes it easier to pick the right section and cut out a size that will fit on a web page. For the web, cropping an image down to 400x400 pixels or so should be fine - it will fit on the page without having to be reduced.

05-18-2009, 10:50 AM	#22
Marc Sabatella Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Denver, CO Photos: Gallery Posts: 10,685	Or, think of Silly Putty. A 100% is what you get when you press the stuff agaisnt the newspaper. If you then stretch it, you're resizing, and it's no longer 100%. Of course, with silly putty, we usually stretch to make it bigger; in processing of digital photos for web display we usually resize to make it smaller. But the same idea applies - when you do the crop, no matter how big an area you crop, it's always 100%, until you resize it.

05-18-2009, 11:09 AM	#23
Yohan Pamudji Inactive Account Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Mississippi Posts: 184	Marc has said it very nicely and thoroughly, so I don't know if my comment will add anything, but I'll try anyway "100% crop" is a misnomer. In actuality, it doesn't have to be a "crop" at all! You could post a full photo, uncropped, and as long as it's not resized it qualifies as a 100% crop. The idea is that you want to show how the image looks at the pixel level without any resizing, because resizing hides and smooths over a multitude of image quality issues, for instance noise, softness, etc. So as long as you're not resizing the image, however big the crop is it's a 100% crop.