{"id":36706,"date":"2014-10-28T08:38:06","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T15:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/?p=36706"},"modified":"2014-10-28T08:38:06","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T15:38:06","slug":"size-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/size-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Size Matters?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DABBELE0428\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Twenty years of shooting and submitting 35mm slides to clients, not cropping an image after it was taken is firmly planted in my storytelling consciences. I “compose” and tell the visual story within the borders of the viewfinder, arrange the elements so the eye sees the subject and then moves through the frame ending back up at, the subject. Part of that arranging of elements and that path of travel is done with lens selection and exposure. And that’s influenced by the environmental factors that have unfolded while I was taking the photo. Simply put, the photo for me is a glorified memory, a couple steps up from those photos you put on the refrigerator with a magnet. That comes from my own personal desire to share the wild world I am so fortunate to witness with my camera with you, the world. So that brings up a question that popped into my mind this past week looking at the photos of another photographer. I asked the photographer, “Does size matter?” <\/p>\n

\"DABBELE0370\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This photographer cropped in post everyone of her photos, every single one! After realizing this, I asked why, why did she crop every single image? She said, “Because I like them better.” That’s a really valid answer and one I have no comment to. If you like it, then to me, that’s a done deal. But for me, the cropping was so random and often, created such an awkward visual path, I finally asked if I could see the whole image, the uncropped photo. When she showed me the first uncropped image, I saw this wonderful, wonderful photo. We spent a whole lot of time talking about why it was so wonderful and at the end, I asked why she cropped this marvelous photo down to a piece of &$*#()? She said something to the effect, “I thought that’s what we were supposed to do to get a big subject size.” That sent my mind a spinning, cycling through all the cropped images I’ve seen over the years (it drives photographers nuts when I look at their photo and say, “You cropped this didn’t you?” It often shows, badly.)<\/p>\n

Subject size in the frame, that seems to be the core reason why photographers crop their images. There is nothing wrong with that, I am not trying to have an open season on the debate about cropping. I am hoping though to start a debate within your own mind if you’re a post cropper, especially for just the sake of subject size in the frame. I put up these two examples of a Little Bee-Eater as an example of my point. The top frame is the full sensor, FX, and the bottom image is with HSC, what most think of DX crop, both shot in the camera (shot with D4s<\/a> \/ 800mm<\/a> w\/tc-.25). The top frame, you can’t help but see the subject, there is a path for the eye to travel and the story of the open African Woodland habitat in which we were working is being told. You see basically the same thing in the bottom frame, but the openness of that habitat to me is lost. Now why you can’t help see the subject in the top frame, well I wrote a book, Captured<\/a>, to explain that. All I want to do here is to make you think about why you crop in post rather than compose in the viewfinder? Can your photography improve if you ask yourself that question next time the camera goes to your eye? It’s your story, your memory, you need to do it so you like it. Make the most of all the tools you have especially the heart and perhaps, size doesn’t matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twenty years of shooting and submitting 35mm slides to clients, not cropping an image after it was taken is firmly planted in my storytelling consciences. I “compose” and tell the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Size Matters? http:\/\/wp.me\/p6YJx-9y2 you'll have to click, read and think to figure this one out @NikonUSA #nikonambassador","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[74,7],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-36706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography","category-wildlife-photography"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Podcast.jpg?fit=1500%2C1500&quality=100&ssl=1","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/www.audible.com\/pd\/Podcast\/B08JJQC1GR?ref=a_pd_item-n_c0_bc&pf_rd_p=1da7ab30-c785-4a0e-a160-4a7e7077b353&pf_rd_r=EEDMYHQM3DZ05FPRTHMJ","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2fRA9VaVfSdQMKf1ipxr0tipxr0t","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/moose-podcast\/id1107405746","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/moose-podcast","embedCode":"

Size Matters?<\/a><\/blockquote>