How far do you dare to crop your photo?

Tuesday 9 July 2024, 15:30 by Nando Harmsen | 2,422 views | 6 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Cropping a photo can produce all sorts of results. Sometimes taking a small bit off is enough, while at other times you might want to throw away half the photo. How far do you dare to crop your photo?

Cropping is simply cutting parts of a photo away. This reduces the photo's resolution. That is often not a problem, because the resolution produced by a modern camera sensor is more than enough.

Even with 800mm, this kingfisher is small in the frame. Cropping a little helps.
Why do you crop, also known as trimming? There are several reasons you might think of. You can further improve a good composition. You can also remove distracting elements from the edges.

Cropping to a panorama changes the look of the photo.
You can create a different aspect ratio, such as a square or a panoramic crop. You can remove some white space created because the photo had to be straightened.

Straightening a tilted photo, or correcting the perspective, requires a crop.
You can also crop to make your subject appear larger in the frame. This is digital zooming. It is often done in wildlife photography because longer focal lengths are frequently required. If your focal length is not long enough, you crop the photo.

How far do you want to crop? How much resolution do you want to retain at a minimum?
Would you dare to cut away half the photo? Even more? Or should the photo retain as much of the sensor's resolution as possible? I am curious about your limits when cropping. What do you use it for, and how much resolution should a photo retain at a minimum?

Let us know in a comment below this post.

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About the author

Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.

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6 comments

martinphili wrote on Tuesday 9 July 2024 at 19:43 | reply
Resolution doesn't say everything, right? The sharpness of a photo is often more decisive than the resolution.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Wednesday 10 July 2024 at 09:29 | reply
But yes, resolution also determines sharpness. Crop enough away, and your resolution becomes so low that no sharpness remains.
Crop a photo to 1200 pixels and view it fullscreen on a fullHD or 4K screen. Or print the photo at 20x30.
Translated from Dutch.

martinphili wrote on Wednesday 10 July 2024 at 20:12 | reply
I meant more that the resolution of the photo before cropping is less important than the sharpness.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Wednesday 10 July 2024 at 20:43 | reply
The higher the resolution, the more sharpness your image has. After all, there are more pixels to show details. In other words, a 24-megapixel photo shows smaller details than a 12-megapixel photo, while they are both simply sharp.
You understand that when cropping away 50%, the 24-megapixel resolution will show more details than the 12-megapixel one. You could call that sharpness, but it is then directly related to the resolution.
Translated from Dutch.

martinphili wrote on Wednesday 10 July 2024 at 22:07 | reply
I think you don't want to understand me. But never mind.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Thursday 11 July 2024 at 09:39 | reply
Of course I want to understand you. I am convinced, however, that resolution and sharpness are closely connected. You cannot see them separately, which is what you suggest in your response.
Unless you are talking about focusing, but that is something completely different again
Translated from Dutch.

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