zoom zoom

I consider myself a full frame photographer. I use my entire view finder when framing my shot not unlike a painter might use a canvas. I use it ALL. But sometimes, you just don't have the right lens for the job and cropping becomes a must.

When I want to travel light, photographically speaking, I just take my camera body and one lens with me. Usually that lens is my 50mm Compact Macro because in comparison to my more versatile 24-70mm it's as light as a feather and a whole lot smaller.

Unfortunately, what I've found on many occasions is that the 50mm just doesn't always do a moment justice. Then and only then do I exercise the right to crop like crazy.

Exhibit A: The before AND after:

You tell me, how could I have possibly resisted a really big zoom in?

Do you have a shot that seems to only work with creative cropping? Share your zoom zoom.

Comments

[Marcie]

Cropped the bird feeder out of this one:
http://marciescudderphotography.com/index.php?showimage=1264

[sarah]

awesome photo, and Marcie's is amazing too. Mine is not so great but is cropped to give a stronger sense of the subject's character - http://www.flickr.com/photos/shorelinesphotography/4803945172/

[giftsofthejourney (Elizabeth Harper)]

The header on my blog is one I cropped to add to the overall effect. After photographing some teenagers there, I told my husband I wanted a shot of me in the same location. I set the camera, and asked him to stand right where I was and snap a few of me once I got into position. While leaving it as it was would have shown the vastness of the area around me, cropping it made tighter and added some tension to the shot.

http://giftsofthejourney.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/when-drowning-remember-hope-floats/

[cigi]

Great shot and, for me, a timely post. I've always been conservative when it comes to cropping but have been feeling a bit more experimental lately:
http://instamaticgratification.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/216365/

[Kat]

I crop liberally, especially when I'm at the max of my zoom (typically 70mm) or using my fixed 35mm lens and I just can't get any closer. In my head, I am seeing the image I want and know I can achieve it by cropping. Here's one, where I had only my 35mm with me and was on a boat, so I cropped significantly to get the composition I wanted:
http://www.kateyeview.com/2010/06/natural-illumination.html

[Morgen]

I was so excited when I saw that I caught this picture of my son. What didn't excite me was that I caught my toes as well. I had to crop them out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bearsefamily/4750638240/

[Jennifer Gandin Le]

This self portrait that I took for Chookooloonks' Beauty of Different project was originally my whole face. I'm new at self-portraiture and framing is challenging for me. I originally got my whole face but I wanted to get closer, so I cropped in and was surprised by how happy I was with the result!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennifergandinle/4889532089/

I love this topic, and the responses so far, because it washes away yet another one of those photography perfection demons that whispers in your ear, "If you don't frame it perfectly when you first take the photo, you are a BAD PHOTOGRAPHER." Boo to that, I say!

[Brooke]

I love the zoom shot!! And I love my 50mm as well but usually when I'm out, I'll opt for a lens that offers some kind of zoom. With the fixed position of the 50mm, it can be hard to frame a shot - it's just not a very good "walking lens". But I do love it!

[Puna]

I could only use these two photos if they were cropped together.

http://lifesignatures.org/wordpress/2010/08/wherethebuffaloroam/

[Sarah]

I adore a good macro...love taking them. But even with a good shot..sometimes getting even closer is better. I took a shot of my daughter's good friend's eyes...stunningly beautiful. But I cropped it down to just one eye and then played with the color a bit...she was a huge Twilight fan..so vamped them a bit for fun.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cottagegardenstudios/4475635225/

[Bettina]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bettina2/4713000807/

I just picked up a camera for the first time a few months ago, i really dont know about composition and all that, nor do i have photoshop or any of that. But i did learn how to crop a picture. This was one i woulda otherwise deleted.

Thanks Shutter Sisters, i am learning so much!

[Aia]

gorgeous shot tracey! definitely worth the crop! here's one that came alive when i cropped it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aclamp/4904619368/

[Humbird]

My favorite tool, cropping!

I love watching city carriage horses, and the people who walk up to them....some pensive, others as if they are greeting an old friend, and of course horse-crazy children brimming with enthusiasm! But the city scape backdrops distracts from the beauty and seems to diminish the presence of this elegant creature. The sun was right, the horse was perfect and here you go:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/humbirdhum/

[Dotti]

I'm an incurable cropper regardless of what lens I use. When shooting children, I sometimes just have to catch the moment and improve it later.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48337138@N04/4904737522/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48337138@N04/4904147877/

[mosey]

I shoot with a 20mm pancake lens, and unless I manage to run in fast and get close enough, I crop a good number of my photos. I usually crop my "close-ups", since I can't shoot macro and just can't get quite close enough to delicate subjects. One day I'll have a new camera and/or macro lens and I won't have to crop in anymore....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/a-la-mosey/4896270317/

[gilding lilies]

The zoom shot is great!
Here is my zoom, zoom. Had to have it!
http://gildingliliesjournal.blogspot.com/2010/08/visitor-in-yard.html

[Dianne Poinski]

I wrote a blog post about saving an image I took at Monet's garden by cropping it.
http://diannepoinski.blogspot.com/2009/09/boat.html

Thanks!

[Jennifer]

Because of where the band was playing, and where the audience was watching, I had to get on my knees and just snap away in hopes of catching the right combination of feet dancing. Several legs and a power cord were cropped out of this to get a decent shot:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cardboardsea/4869924732/

[Victoria Bennett Beyer]

I'm feel the same way as you do - I very rarely crop, but, if the image is good enough, I'd rather crop it than dismiss it. This is the only example I can think of, though I probably have one or two more.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35014029@N00/4047891390/in/set-72157622544936367/

I thought I was close enough, but after seeing the image on my screen, the sheep felt too far away. And the detail of the vegetation was getting lost.

Great example in your post - the action seems much more dynamic with the crop.

[Stephanie]

Great photo! I love the tighter crop.

This photo required some cropping. A lot of statues in the Duomo in Florence were placed behind bars, at a distance from the visitors, because so many years of graffiti had nearly destroyed them. I wanted to capture both the age of the centuries-old statue (the chipping and cracking) and the graffiti covering every inch. Because of the bars (and my 50mm lens) I wasn't able to zoom in when shooting and had to do it later, by cropping.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniecourt/4803933074/

[WorthIt!]

I too rarely crop but find I have the most need to crop when I'm shooting a moving target.

Here's one of the best examples I could find. It's one of my nephew surfing. I cropped out two other surfers and zoomed in as much as I could to capture the look of intensity on his face. I was happy with the result and so was he.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52055227@N07/4905117100/

[Bettina]

Here's another that needed cropping :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bettina2/4714368587/

[joan]

I crop. I have a point and shoot so I can't get close enough at times.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elizabeth-2010/4885929650/

[Mimi]

My son plays basketball and we love to go to sporting events to support our friends. I crop a lot of my pictures. I want to keep the view large enough so I can capture the long open pass but need to crop in order to capture the man on man plays or the expressions of the players.

http://www.themostpreciousmomentsofmylife.blogspot.com/

[Amanda]

i must admit i love cropping. i cropped this as it can be hard to photograph yourself and get the right focus and composition.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amandaleee/4458543193/

[darrah parker]

Here's a recent zoom zoom crop I did:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artcetera/4790002187/

The original photo included more of her body, but when I saw those amazing eyes and the intense expression, I just had to crop in closer!

[Chelsey]

I'm not normally a cropper either. BUT, sometimes it's just needed. This photo of Ruari's eye I just love. The before was at a weird angle that made her nose look all odd. Here's the before:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepapermama/4906044226/

Here's the after:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepapermama/4906041618/

-Chelsey

[lucy]

i'm a sometimes cropper, because i travel light with my 50mm lens, too.

here, i was pretty close and surrounded on all sides by buzzing friends, but still not close enough to be foolhardy. cropping helped:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucyloomis/4901065172/

[Marianne LoMonaco]

This needed to be cropped.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariannelomonaco/4894763308/

[Angie]

He is one of mine from spring soccer season
http://angsclicksandpics.blogspot.com/2010/05/soccer-before-fall.html

[Leslie]

Even if I love my original image I love to play with the cropping tool for different effects especially with people and food. This is one of my favorites....my French boyfriend.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thel-list/4792767928/

[Victoria]

I try not to crop too much. I'm trying very hard to use the whole view finder to compose a shot.

This one was just one of many that I took one day:
http://flickr.com/gp/6riddles/1C2z23

I liked how the crop turned out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6riddles/4775826169/in/set-72157623142075000/

And I would gladly be down on the ground composing a shot instead of on that SCARY ride. That's just me :)

[AwesomeGirl♥]

Haha I love this picture! I'm the blonde one...