Proper Cropping
I’ve been a sports shooter for as long as I can remember, I just like shooting sports. With that comes certain restrictions. You can’t always crop your pictures the way everyone else thinks you shoot. First as a commissioned piece, you have to allow for editorial space. Second, the publisher (whatever the format it might be) will tell you exactly what size the image should be. For example, all of the images that I deliver to the Rough Riders for their website has to be 1155×855 pixels, and yes it has to be horizontal images. That’s because the primary media for the site is their website. They do also want verticals and standard ratios as well since they do use them for print, but that’s the size of their template for their site.
This is specially true if you move from a cropped sensor to a full frame. You end up with a lot more room than you’re used to. After you get used to it, you start cropping less and less, but you still do it. Also in sports, everything is cropped, because you can’t move. You have to take the frame that the player develop for you. If you want that instant you have to click, and crop it later.
All that said, what’s the best crop? A crop should be to spec, and it should emphasis your subject as much as possible. Now some people go for the deepest crop they possible can. I don’t subscribe to this theory. I think dead space, used properly, can add to your image. It all depends on what you’re trying to show, and point to.
