Cropping & ratios

[adias.angel]

Hi, =)
I have been poking around here for a while now and really love it. One thing I have not seen (or more likely missed) was information about cropping.

When cropping is there a standard ratio that you try to stick with so that you can print the photo in a variety of sizes (eg 8x10, 5x7)? I am so worried about cropping too much and not having flexibility later on when printing. Thanks! Carla =)

[OsmosisStudios]

Each size will require a different crop.

Wallets (2x3), 4x6, 8x12, 12x18, 20x30, 24x36: 2:3 ratio.
5x7 is an almost unique ratio, though some places print 10x14 as well.
4x5, 8x10, 16x20, 24x30: all 4:5 ratio.

Etc.

[BigVinnie]

To toss something else in the mix is cropping for digital display. 16:9 ratio.

I don't do much paid work anymore, but I did two senior shoots where the finished product included LCD photo frames. All the photos need to be either vertical or horizontal. Mixing them leaves black bars and is totally unprofessional.

I think as these displays get cheaper there will be more demand for them as a finished product.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by BigVinnie

Mixing them leaves black bars and is totally unprofessional.
.

I fail to see how that's unprofessional.

[wulf]

It depends partly on the resolution of the LCD display. Some of them are pretty low-res. Take one of the lower-end frames and crop it to a different to the display and you could end up with very few pixels trying to represent the image - as bad as trying to check if you nailed focus on an LCD camera screen. I can see that this would look pretty poor especially since, with an output medium defined, a professional should be able to work towards getting the best possible result on it.

Back to the original question, I tend to stick to about four different ratios: 1:1, 3:2, 4:3 and 16:9 (and portrait versions of the middle two: 2:3 and 3:4). I prefer the result of this limited palette when viewing my photos en-masse.

Don't forget the overall pixel dimensions too - if you crop too much off, you will be limited to a lower DPI setting on the end result. For maximum flexibility, you might be advised to keep a copy of the original photo as well as any processed versions, which might give some options if you decide, for example, that you want to present someone with a bunch of 5x4 prints even though you typically crop to a 3:2 ratio.

Wulf