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Cropping Photographs

Common photographic print sizes have their roots in previous photographic techniques. Unfortunately print size often do not match with the current 2x3 proportion of most cameras. Take the following photograph for example.

It has the same proportions as an image straight out of a camera, 2x3. In this case it is 300 pixels wide by 450 pixels tall, but the proportion would scale to a 4x6 inch or an 8x12 inch print.

This 2x3 proportion does not match many common print sizes. For example, the following image has been cropped to a 5x7 proportion. The red area represents the area of the image that has been cropped out.

Scaling up the print sizes, an 8x10 inch print and the equally proportioned 16x20 inch print require cropping slightly more off than the 5x7 inch.

And an 11x14 inch print also has to have some of the image cropped, although not as much as an 8x10.

However, when cropping there is no restriction keeping a vertical image vertical. In the following example a 4x6 area has been cropped out of the original image creating a horizontal print. The same principle applies to all print sizes. This technique of cropping an image from within a larger image is a great way to remove a distracting background or focus attention on a small portion of an image.

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