DPS Member Survey: Composition vs "Croposition"

[TerryMC]

If I remember it right back in the old days, PJ sometimes had to shoot overhead with a wide angle lens and motor drives just to get something on film.

Someone had to crop it unless the newspaper wish to show a pin head size of the subject with a lot of unrelated surrounding.

[JustJim]

Cropping or other digital manipulation is no more cheating than on-lens filters or bounce flash. Or even dressing your normally grubby five-year-old in his Sunday best to get his "picture taken", or getting your grumpy Aunt Mabel to "say cheese"!

I have reviewed the Wikipedia entry as a person who is not the originator and removed the "New Unapproved Article" caveat. The entry still needs work though... anybody know anything about IPA pronunciation? Or how to get articles included in the Photography Portal?

Edit: I give it three years, then OED here we come!

[equilution]

Originally Posted by JustJim

Cropping or other digital manipulation is no more cheating than on-lens filters or bounce flash. Or even dressing your normally grubby five-year-old in his Sunday best to get his "picture taken", or getting your grumpy Aunt Mabel to "say cheese"!

I have reviewed the Wikipedia entry as a person who is not the originator and removed the "New Unapproved Article" caveat. The entry still needs work though... anybody know anything about IPA pronunciation? Or how to get articles included in the Photography Portal?

Edit: I give it three years, then OED here we come!

Thanks, Jim! It is a work in progress. I'm going to add pics today to show an example. I've gotta work on the syntax a bit. Give me a couple days, and it'll be uptight!!

[andrewdt]

Originally Posted by beachcomber

Cropositioning has my vote

Cheating would be claiming credit for that which was not your own.
Cropositioning is a skill.
A skill that enhances that which was good to start with, and makes it different and hopefully better, the same as photo edit software does

Good pictures/post and question Jim. I was going to call you an innovatrix but unfortunately that title has already been discovered, ah well, back to the scrabble board

I like the term and have really enjoyed seeing everyones thoughts on this. It seems that the people who offer the best advice and are the best critics on this site all see the valuable side of making your good work even better. Just goes to show that the less selfish you all are with your time and abillity to teach, the more open you all seem to making your own work better using different techniques. Good on all of you.

[equilution]

Originally Posted by andrewdt

I like the term and have really enjoyed seeing everyones thoughts on this. It seems that the people who offer the best advice and are the best critics on this site all see the valuable side of making your good work even better. Just goes to show that the less selfish you all are with your time and abillity to teach, the more open you all seem to making your own work better using different techniques. Good on all of you.

Thanks, Andrew. I appreciate someone who appreciates the spirit behind a cause!! I wrote an article about 'croposition' on Wikipedia. Feel free to give me some feedback. I'd like to seem my newfound term in Webster's someday!

Croposition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks for looking! I had all but forgotten about this post!

[drr0b]

I'm all for croposition- anything that removes obstacles between you and your creativity is fine by me! If you can get perfect composition in situ, then great; however, an imperfect shot is better than a missed shot

I'm having a lot of fun with the lightroom crop tool at the moment, trying out the different overlays so that I can see how I like the different rules of composition.

[audrey-g]

croposition for me too. all the others said it well before me. digital photography and photo manipulation can play wonders with creativity. croposition is one of them. thumbs up for technology!

[JustJim]

Well, not making it to the OED via Wikipedia

[eeyess]

although i did not read every post some very good points were made on both sides. my opinion is composition is best, because you have a good to go type image that can also be croped into another image. im a big fan of adobe and use it, but i like to know that when im leaving the scene of the shot i have something to go with.

[Cavalrysword]

I've got a t-shirt that says "Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't." The point being you have to keep up with technology.

What counts is the finished product, whatever means you use to achieve it.

That said, it is better to do as much in the camera as possible. Excessive croposition can turn your ten megapixel camera into a five megapixel camera. (substitute whatever numbers suit you better) You lose some resolution in croposition.

I'd also credit composition with requiring more pre-thinking. After you leave the scene, you can't go back and alter the angle, etc. In that respect croposition is more limited than composition.