Cropping photos? or leaving them?

[joeb_uk]

Ok, i am just curious to hear your preference. Now i like to see the photo untouched so you can see the surroundings, not just the girl cropped so she is full frame (which do you prefer?)
The good thing is with many of the shooters who shoot high res images, you can crop the girl yourself after you have downloaded the untouched one

[Thunder Pixx]

i prefer to crop a little before, but only if there is a lot of nothing going on around. i do like to leave a little bit of the surroundings. that is just my preference. makes the pics a little smaller adn easier to handle.

[Gonja]

I crop 90% of my pics. I like focusing the shot on just my subject unless there is something cool in the background ...but in my case (I only shoot in beaches) my background is mostly boring sand.

[Mobius]

The nice thing is that you can do both. With a D70 & a 120-300 you should be able to post high-rez pic's that are full frame - as some of the traditional candid-photog's like - and also crop your subject and show some real detail if you need to. My suggestion is stand in there as close as possible and fire away at 300mm - if there is anything left to crop you can make the call from there. I personally prefer to see the detail in a subjects face/skin/clothes etc. more than were they are at or what they are doing.

[CC]

I think ( something one doesnt see a lot of) there should be a combination of both type shots, especially when doing a whole series of pics.

Its really nice to see the surroundings..its sorta like a setup to where and how the pics were taken.

Scenery and surroundings is almost always nice and should be included in a set, if the chick is really spectacular, then many closeups/ detail shots should be included of course.

When one only posts tightly cropped shots of a girl, the images lose personality.

I personally never edit/ crop or enhance any photos downloaded.

This is ofcourse, my opinion only.

[archman]

It's a combination for me. If the background is boring, I'll crop so the subject of my photo is more prominent. But, as you'll see when The Bean finally re-opens and I start shooting there, I'll leave most of those uncropped because there's always something happening in the background. Plus, it give Gonja and CB something to do--trying to find me in the reflection :)

[Gonja]

Plus, it give Gonja and CB something to do--trying to find me in the reflection :)
HAHAHa...I have my eye out for u!!

[Shark]

I crop only if I want to focus on my subject, but alot of the times, if I shot from too far away, the cropped image gets super grainy, so I try to stay away from cropping. Only if it's absolutely necessary. Say, to get someone else's arm out of an otherwise, subject only shot. That happens, you get home, put them up on your computer, and you see the end of someone's arm in the pic that you didn't see while taking the shot. I'll definitely crop those shots a little.

[Deathtrot]

My personal preference is to stay away from all post-production unless it's absolutely necessary. It's my way of challenging myself to pay close attention to what I'm doing out in the street.

[Gramps]

I been playing with P.S. and N.I. only on my shit camera pics...
some of the subjects were lovely and my inept photographic
abilities prevented me from capturing what thier real essence
was...Ho Hum...With the new cam, should be able to resize a little
and just post....I like cropped pics if the rez is high enough...

[deliriouspixel]

Crop em to put focus on your subject using "the rule of thirds", but maintain the proportions of the original image. Google it if you dont know what thirds is.

[SnappinT]

My opinion here, which is subject to change as I continue the learning experience which is life, is that it would depend on your method of shooting. For shooting from the eye, as most people in mainstream photography would do, I think it is a good discipline to be in the habit of framing your shots right in the first place so that you don't have to crop, it just takes some practice to keep composition in mind when you're preoccupied with capturing the subject. However, if you're a hip shooter, or chest shooter it's not very easy to do that, in fact you may depend on a wide field of vision to increase your chances of capturing the subject, then crop later to improve the composition and balance. And also to weed out the fat bald guys who tend to get in the picture and scratch their crotch....not that it's happened to ME, mind you...but you just wouldn't want that...you just wouldn't.

[Rob_Ant]

I say crop the photo, but don't over do it.

[the boss]

when you crop, you're destroying a photo

[candideye]

I think Snappin makes some really good observations. I use an SLR, so I shoot from the viewfinder more often than not. My goal is to frame the pic so that no cropping is necessary. I'm getting a little better at it, but I still need to do a bit of cropping sometimes to make my subject more the focus of the pic. When hip-shooting, like Snappin said, you often need to rely on your camera's wide field of vision to get your subject in the pic. Then it's often necessary and prudent to do a bit of cropping. That being said, I do enjoy series of pics that include both close-ups and "scenery" shots.

[StuffNJunk]

I would only crop if necessary...like kids in the pics, etc. I guess it depends on
what kind of look you are going for...i personally like to see some of the
background in the pic too...I haven't taken enough candids yet to
figure this out too much yet :)

[Ambusher]

I think JoeMac once complained I "crop the hell out of my pictures". The reason is if I have a series I like to line them up for comparison - maybe what I really need is a huge monitor.

This summer if I get any good ones I will keep two sets, one cropped and one not.