Very basic question...

[notfadeaway]

Hi, I'm new here and I've been learning about photography over the last few months. My question is, "how does cropping effect the quality of the overall picture and does this in turn limit the ability of the photographer on the size print that can be made?"

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by notfadeaway

Hi, I'm new here and I've been learning about photography over the last few months. My question is, "how does cropping effect the quality of the overall picture and does this in turn limit the ability of the photographer on the size print that can be made?"

Crops that reduce the overall number of pixels in an image will and can effect the resolution. The aspect ratio of most DSLRs is 2x3 (aka 4x6)..so any size that is not a multiple of the original will lose some of the data. A native 2x3 (4x6) will make an 8x12 at 4x without lose, but if you go 8x10 or 5x7 which are not multiples of 2x3 you will lose some of the data as they are not multiples of 2x3. I do believe, however, if you have a sharp full resolution original image to start with, enlargements up to 11 x 14 should not be a problem. I have found this to be true based on my own personal experiences.