Crop Those Photos, Baby!

"I'm not taking a photograph, I'm making a photograph." - Ansel Adams

I want to talk about an important subject, which inspires disagreement...cropping photos.

"Wait, Sensei...what is cropping a photo?"

Cropping a photo means to cut out edges of the photo in order to improve the photo, or to improve the composition.

I want to say this right now...there is absolutely nothing wrong with cropping your photos.

“Why, Sensei?”

Because...THERE ARE NO RULES.

This is the main idea I try to impart here in my blog posts and in my conversations with other photographers…there are no rules.

It is your photo, your art…you can do absolutely anything you want... whenever you want...in any way you want.

(Let me be clear here, though...if a photographer crops a photo, or manipulates it in any way using Photoshop or some other method...but claims that he or she did not do so...then that photographer is being dishonest. There is nothing wrong with manipulating an image any way the photographer wants....but, she or he cannot lie about it. And this is especially of utmost importance with regards to documentary photography and photojournalism.)

So, to continue about cropping photos…

There is a well-known and popular YouTuber/photographer, Jared Polen, who has been around for years. His videos are very informative, and I have learned some things from him, and I do like him and his videos. But...he takes every opportunity to say that he never crops his photos. What he is basically saying is..."I'm so great, I don't need to crop." This is ridiculous.

Many great photographers crop, many legendary photographers crop, many famous photographers crop…photographers have always cropped, from the earliest beginnings of photography.

There is another popular YouTuber/photographer, Sean Tucker. I also like his videos very much. He posted a video on cropping, in which he explained that there is nothing wrong with cropping. And he explained that he does crop sometimes. Ok, so far, so good.

But, when he said that he cropped, he said it in an almost apologetic manner..."I crop just a little bit...to just tighten up the composition a little." (I'm paraphrasing him).

Why does he need to qualify the statement that he crops? Either it is ok to crop, or it is not ok…no matter how much. If you say that cropping is ok, but then you quickly say that you only crop occasionally, and only crop a little bit...why are you making excuses for it? Why do you feel compelled to make sure you say "only a little?"

Again, I like both of these people, and I like their videos and what they do. My issue here is with their comments on cropping. And I'm only using them as an example because they are popular and have big followings...there are many other photographers who claim they don't crop, as if that makes them special.

So, let me just clearly say it here…I crop whenever I want....as much or as little as I want. I do not hesitate for a moment.

If I think it will improve my image, I'm cropping it. Period.

It is very important to understand that there is absolutely nothing wrong with cropping your image. In fact, it is one of a photographer's key tools and techniques.

I will prove it to you in a moment. But, first, in case you forgot, remember...

THERE ARE NO RULES! ;-)

You do not need to take my word for it...here, below, is just a short list of famous, legendary photographers who are known to have cropped their images. I have also included some of their famous, cropped, images. This is just a tiny list I'm giving you...there are many, many more great photographers, past and present, who have done it, and who continue to do it.

"I would cut any inches off my frames in order to get a better picture.” - Walker Evans

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.” - Ansel Adams

Here are some famous photographers who have cropped their photos:

Ansel Adams - considered by many to be the greatest landscape photographer ever.

Henri Cartier-Bresson - legendary pioneer of street photography.

Arnold Newman - famous master portrait photographer.

Elliott Erwitt - legendary street and documentary photographer.

Edward Weston - He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers"...and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." The first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Alfred Eisenstaedt - Famous photographer for "LIFE" magazine.

Robert Frank - Legendary documentary photographer. Created the book "The Americans," one of the most influential photography books of the 20th century.

Dorothea Lange - Famous documentary photographer. Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Walker Evans - legendary photographer. Many of his works are in the permanent collections of museums.

This list could go on and on.

And here are some famous photo examples for you, showing how the photographers cropped them:

Arnold Newman (1918-2006), legendary portrait photographer.

Arnold Newman

Arnold Newman

Arnold Newman

Elliott Erwitt (b. 1928), legendary documentary photographer.

Elliott Erwitt

Elliott Erwitt

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), legendary master and a pioneer of street photography.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Do you see?

Crop to your heart’s content. If it is good enough for legendary master photographers, it is good enough for everyone else, too.

Lens Sharpness

Lens sharpness…

Ahh...one of the secret ingredients for photographic excellence. Without the sharpest lens possible, your photos will simply not be as good as they should be.

That is the conclusion that you would most likely reach from reading or watching lens reviews on the newest “must have” lenses.

Sure enough...once you've read or watched enough of those reviews...you will want to purchase the sharpest lens you can afford, maybe even go into debt to get it. Because, you are told, it is "super sharp!" "The sharpest lens we have ever reviewed!"

Which is, of course, the purpose of most of those reviews...to convince you that you need to spend your money to acquire that sharp lens. If you do buy it, they imply, your photos will be so much better, so much more “professional-level.”

It is all misleading.

Throughout photographic history, a great many beautiful and important fashion, landscape, portrait, street, and fine art photographs...published in major magazines and displayed in galleries and museums all around the world...have been created with "un-sharp" lenses. Many of those images hailed as masterpieces.

Paolo Roversi, 2003

There have been a great number of famous photojournalism and documentary images, created by legendary photographers, past and present, which have helped to raise awareness of important issues and possibly helped to end or shorten suffering…images that have been less than sharp. This did not diminish their impact.

Don McCullin, 1968

You, most likely, have seen many of these images yourself…and they have touched and moved you.

Having your images be as sharp as possible is not a requirement for them to be great, compelling and powerful.

Just look at paintings. I doubt Rembrandt worried about how sharp his brush was ;-)

All you really need is a lens that is “sharp enough,” not the sharpest lens in the world (and the average person looking at your photos would not know the difference, anyway; and, even if they had the ability to tell the difference, or even cared, they would need to put their eyeball up against the photo…no one does this).

The lens, or lenses, you have right now are “sharp enough.” Ansel Adams, arguably the greatest of all landscape photographers, wrote that any modern lens is sharp enough. He wrote that in the 1930’s.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1932

I had someone ask me…”I need a new lens, and can afford one that costs $300, but there is a really sharp lens for $800 that I keep hearing about...should I use my credit card for the $800 lens?” No. Buy the $300 lens…you will be able to create just as many great photos with that lens, as with the $800 lens.

So, please do yourself an emotional and economic favor...forget the reviews (“Look what happens when we take a photo of a brick wall and zoom in 1000%….now you can see how sharp!”)…and ignore the hype about the newest sharp lenses.

What really matters for great photos, is this (not in any particular order...and not all are necessary in every photo):

• Is the photo beautiful or interesting?

• Does the photo tell a story?

• Does the photo have emotional impact?

Saul Leiter, 1952

Saul Leiter, 1959