Is it just me?

[Mainecoonmaniac]

When I shoot, regardless of format, I look at the whole frame and compose to fill the frame. When I print, I rarely crop but print full frame. Are there other APUGers that do the same? Is full frame composing and printing laziness or just another way of seeing?

[chriscrawfordphoto]

You should compose for the image you want to make, not be enslaved by the format of the camera you own. I use a Hasselblad a lot because I love square format, and it gives a large square neg, but some images work better as a rectangle and I have no problem with cropping as needed. The image is what matters, not the gear. No one cares if you cropped, they care if the photo says something to them, and composition is important for that.

[Laurent]

I try to compose using the whole frame, and like to print the same. I'm usually quite satisfied when this happens, but I also crop as needed when my framing was not accurate as needed.

[podstawek]

I almost always crop, regardless of whether I'm shooting square or rectangle, and regardless of camera and film size. I don't object cropping heavily, providing some minimum quality is preserved.

[SuzanneR]

When I shoot, regardless of format, I look at the whole frame and compose to fill the frame. When I print, I rarely crop but print full frame. Are there other APUGers that do the same? Is full frame composing and printing laziness or just another way of seeing?

I'm with you. I shoot with the intention that I won't have to crop. Occasionally, I'll crop, but only very slightly, and in a way that retains the 6x7cm shape that I like so much. Cropping, I find, can be more difficult to do effectively... when I crop too much, it just looks like... well, a cropped picture. Too cut up somehow.

YMMV, of course!

[hpulley]

I used to shoot chromes almost exclusively so I got used to always framing exactly how I wanted it to look since masking slides is a PITA and so is doing duplicating work to do crops though I would get out the bellows and slide dupe rig if I really needed to do a crop. I find, no matter the medium, that a picture obviously looks better if you don't have to crop and enlarge the image any more than necessary. Hence the 300mm and 100-400mm lenses in my arsenal which are NOT just for wildlife and sports, I often do tight landscape framing as well.

[Rick A]

I compose full frame and almost never crop when I print. I choose the format that suits my purpose for my vision, whether it be 35mm or square or 4x5, or whatever.

[Sirius Glass]

I'm with you. I shoot with the intention that I won't have to crop. Occasionally, I'll crop, but only very slightly, and in a way that retains the 6x7cm shape that I like so much. Cropping, I find, can be more difficult to do effectively... when I crop too much, it just looks like... well, a cropped picture. Too cut up somehow.

YMMV, of course!

Ditto, but with 135, 120 in 6x6 and 4"x5".

Steve

[flatulent1]

I compose full frame to use as much of the negative as I can. When I print it can be weeks or months later, and often see something different on the enlarger and will enlarge & frame differently from the original. I'm not a slave to the format, but rather I shoot the format I do because I like it.

[keithwms]

I also tend not to crop. When I do, I usually keep the same aspect ratio.