Cropping is one of my favorite (easy) ways to change the final look of an image. So, I'd like to show you how you can do it with your images at home!
First, about print ratios. Ratios? I know what you're thinking: "Whoa, Holly, I don't like math." But, this isn't that difficult, I promise! A print ratio just means that a standard 4"x6" print will have a different crop than a 5"x7" or an 8"x10" print. Here's an example. First, on the left, this image shows the full, uncropped image. The uncropped version is approximately a 4"x6" ratio. (I'll get into the ratio thing a bit more in a second.) The middle version shows what would be cropped if we made the image a 5"x7" ratio, and then the third version on the right shows what would be cropped if we made it an 8"x10" ratio.
On the images above, the cropped portion was taken from the bottom to show you the difference in how much is cropped between the various sizes. But, you may want an 8"x10" print, without so much cropped from the bottom. That's no problem. You can crop anywhere you want to. Here's the same sample as above, with the crops centered.
Now, if you've noticed, I've left the sides alone in these crops. That's so it is easier to compare just how much of the height is cropped. But, of course, you can crop the sides as well.
Now, with any cropping discussion, it is important to note that you have to be careful how much you want to crop and what the ultimate print size will be. What does that mean? Well, don't try to crop a headshot out of a full body shot, like this:
You might be able to print it out as a thumbnail, but even a 4"x6" print will be stretched and pixelated. (We'll discuss all that in another segment, so stay tuned!)
Most of you probably use an online service to print, and with those services, you have the option to crop, so try it out! The great thing about those services is that you can see the final crop, and you can play around with it until you get it the way you like it. What's the bad part? Well, for professional photographers (who are all control freaks), we like to have ultimate control, so we do our cropping in a program such as photoshop. For instance, let's say I decided I didn't want quite so much of the tilt that I did in-camera. In photoshop I can twist the crop to get a different effect. (Notice how the copyright text is now tilted instead of straight.)
The same thing could be done if you didn't have any tilt, but wanted to add a bit in.
Another quick and easy way to change an image is to center your subject, or, off-center your subject. Many of you learned that you should always center your subject and you should never crop off a head. But, it goes back to the old saying "once you know the rules, then you can break them." For headshots, I really like to crop off the top of the heads, to really zoom in on that adorable face. I also like to off-center, although it depends on the image. (Off-centering relates to the "rule of thirds" that we'll be discussing in another segment.)
So, sometimes, I use cropping to off-center an image a bit more, and sometimes I use it to center an image. This particular original can go either way. It just depends on your taste as to which you like more.
Want to know exactly how the print ratios are related? Well, most original images are approximately a 4"x6" ratio. With ratios, if you multiply one of the numbers, you have to multiply the other number as well. So, if you multiply by 2, a 4"x6" is now an 8"x12". Multiply by 3 and it's now a 12"x18". Multiply by 4, you get a 16"x24". The same works for a 5"x7". Multiply by 2 and you get 10"x14". Or, try an 8"x10". Multiply by 2 and get a 16"x20". Multiply by 3 and get a 24"x30". You can also multiply by numbers other than whole numbers, so an 8"x10" print multiplied by 2.5 is 20"x25". The largest print size will depend on your camera and the actual number of mega-pixels it has (and how much you crop out!) Again, we'll discuss a bit more about megapixels and print quality in another segment!
I hope now you can see how just a few minutes can really change the look of your final prints.
Crop away!
