When you are composing your photos in your VF, do you compose with the idea that your photo will only be shown on the web, or on a digital display of some kind?

Or, do you compose with the idea in mind that your photo will need to be cropped for the various sizes of printing? Which, of course, would mean that your initial photo would have more content that it will end up with?


Anyone

TIA

Ed

[mattdm]

When you are composing your photos in your VF, do you compose with the idea that your photo will only be shown on the web, or on a digital display of some kind?

Or, do you compose with the idea in mind that your photo will need to be cropped for the various sizes of printing? Which, of course, would mean that your initial photo would have more content that it will end up with?

I prefer the compose-in-the-field style of shooting, so I try to get what I want in the viewfinder. Then, when printing, I usually make 3:2 prints (cropping the paper if need be).

[navcom]

Depends on the end-result medium but my answer would be both. The customer's use for the photo is what determines how it is composed. Customer's can include paying customers or just the family and myself.

The landscape photos I take are each taken with the printer and the framer in mind. The product photos I take are usually taken with the web in mind, with the composition ultimately decided by the customer and their application for the photo.

[TaoMaas]

I've changed since I started shooting digital. With film, I would always compose my pics exactly the way I wanted them to appear. But then I was shooting slide film 99.999% of the time, so I pretty much had to do things that way. Now, I'm not quite as precise because I know I'm probably going to have to do a little post processing anyway, so I can always tweak the pic a bit, if need be. While I still believe in filling the frame whenever possible, digital has allowed me to shoot pics that I might have passed over before due to not having a long enough lens on me at the time.

Oops....I just realized that I answered something you weren't really asking. I don't shoot with the idea of fitting a particular format in mind. I find a format that fits what I want my final composition to be.

[Peter Zack]

Like TaoMaas, I have shot slide film for more years than I care to count. I think it's great training. I still shoot with the framing (composition) of film in mind. Some cropping is always part of the process now but mostly due to the tilted viewfinder and 95% coverage that it gives. So I'm not as picky as I used to be but try to avoid heavy cropping whenever possible to degrade the final image.

I don't want to over use this photograph, but it's the best example I have to illustrate my question.

#1 is what the apc-c sensor yields.




If I want to print an 8 x 10, or let a lab print it, here's approximately what will come from the original.



So, to get the 8 x 10 print, not all of what was on what the sensor (Film in the old days) will fit.

So, my thought here is....

If all you ever intend to do is present your photos digitally, then you can simply fill up the VF knowing that it will all be displayed.

If you intend to produce 8 x 10 or 4 x 6 prints, I think you have to keep that in mind and leave room for the inevitable print crop.

Now I now that the 95% view in the VF does some of this, but I would think that you would have to keep it in mind.

BTW, I did slides as well but coverted a lot of them to prints.

Ed

[Peter Zack]

I see what you're getting at Ed. This size from the sensor is 6wx4h and to do a straight enlargment from the original with no cropping then the print size is better at 12x8. The resolution is more than enough for a print that size and looks very good framed and matted. IMO better than the typical 10x8 landscape shot anyway (too square) but frames are cheaper in this size. So the choice is to either step back and shoot wider with 10x8 in mind for a future crop or make a bigger enlargement.

In the case of this shot though the cropped version looks better anyway. I think the tree is a distraction that doesn't add much to the shot. Great image Btw.

[Eaglerapids]

This is precisely what irritates me the most if I take a picture to somebody to get it printed and why I do most all of my own printing. I hate it when they crop my picture! It seems they have to do a borderless print. I would print this photo in Lightroom on an 8X10 and get Lightroom to fit it on the 8X10 just the way it is. It won't fit borderless but I can get the print I want.

[PDL]

Like a few others here, back when I had hair, I shot slide film. So moving to digital it was easy, shoot using full frame (not 135 format - all the pixels), all the frame, nothing but the frame. I do not like to crop and feel that something is wrong when I "have" to crop. I print using as much paper real-estate that I can with images coming out at 9.5x6 something or another. I found Costco printing at 10x12, 12x18 and 20x30 fitting my needs without cropping at all.

That said, even with the "rule of thirds" focus screens implanted in both my *ist Ds and K10D (straight vertical and horizontal lines engraved on the screen) I find myself "cropping" just to get things level and straight up and down.

Do I compose in the viewfinder - yes. Do I use selective focus and DoF to get close to the effect I want - yes. Do I pre-visualize (thanks Ansell) --- well I try, most of the time I look at the image and just shake my head wondering what was did I do, that looks nothing like what I wanted to get. Do I take too many shots with the subject dead center -- yes, yes I do.

Composing during post processing as a preferred method of capturing images is a waste of pixels.

The Elitist - formerly known as PDL

[Canada_Rockies]

When you are composing your photos in your VF, do you compose with the idea that your photo will only be shown on the web, or on a digital display of some kind?

Or, do you compose with the idea in mind that your photo will need to be cropped for the various sizes of printing? Which, of course, would mean that your initial photo would have more content that it will end up with?


Anyone

TIA

Ed

I do a viewfinder crop, coming from slide film as another bunch of people have said here. Sometimes, that leaves too much on one side or the other, and I will then crop in post processing. For shots that do not take to cropping, full 3:2 format, I will print 12x8 (or 13x8.5) and matte the shot into an 11x14 frame.

Some subjects fit the 3:2 format perfectly, others I prefer square, 4x5 ratio, whatever is needed to fill the vision I had when I made the image in camera. In any of these, I will fill the frame so that I only crop in one direction, if at all possible.

[JrPentax]

ok - yea i see it but i dont understand why it is so....

- why do you crop out the tree when printing smaller pictures?
- why can you not print each picture at the size / dimension you want?

are these called aspect ratios? and are they really that important???

[mattdm]

This is precisely what irritates me the most if I take a picture to somebody to get it printed and why I do most all of my own printing. I hate it when they crop my picture! It seems they have to do a borderless print. I would print this photo in Lightroom on an 8X10 and get Lightroom to fit it on the 8X10 just the way it is. It won't fit borderless but I can get the print I want.

Many (most? all?) online print services allow you to select your own cropping, including one that leaves a border.

ok - yea i see it but i dont understand why it is so....

- why do you crop out the tree when printing smaller pictures?
- why can you not print each picture at the size / dimension you want?

are these called aspect ratios? and are they really that important???

Well, paper only comes in certain pre-cut sizes (and thus standard prints, and standard frames).

[calicojack]

[QUOTE=
Well, paper only comes in certain pre-cut sizes (and thus standard prints, and standard frames).[/QUOTE]

This is true, but mats can be cut to any aspect ratio / picture size and still fit a standard frame size. (albeit slightly larger)
Brian

[blwnhr]

I'm lazy and 'take the photo I want' rather than PP-ing. Generally speaking I shoot for web.

[egordon99]

I just wish it was easier to find 8x12 frames.