Topic: Cropping

[Adam Doe]

After scanning and viewing a few rolls of 120 shot through my Rolleiflex TLR this past weekend I came to the conclusion that due to parallax I will need to crop a number of the images. I usually try to compose through the viewfinder and don't often crop, but after this weekend I think I may start to plan for cropping and allow more into the frame when I shoot.

Just curious as to what all of you do. Do you shoot with the intent of cropping? Do you not?

[jharr]

I try hard to get the shot I want using the viewfinder, but somehow, I cannot for the life of me take a photo with a horizontal horizon!! So straightening and cropping ensues if it looks like the ocean is going to pour out of the frame (I'm a little CDO that way).

[Bryan]

I try to compose in the viewfinder but every now and then I find the need to crop.  Don't most Rolleiflex TLR's have parallax correction built in?  I think some of the very early ones didn't.

[Adam Doe]

...Don't most Rolleiflex TLR's have parallax correction built in?  ...

I didn't know that, mine is a Rolleiflex T and I don't think it has it but perhaps my framing was just off.

[Adam Doe]

I try hard to get the shot I want using the viewfinder, but somehow, I cannot for the life of me take a photo with a horizontal horizon!! So straightening and cropping ensues if it looks like the ocean is going to pour out of the frame (I'm a little CDO that way).

I feel your pain, I too am level-challenged. Seems find in the viewfinder, looks skewed on the print or screen.

[Indofunk]

I try hard to get the shot I want using the viewfinder, but somehow, I cannot for the life of me take a photo with a horizontal horizon!! So straightening and cropping ensues if it looks like the ocean is going to pour out of the frame (I'm a little CDO that way).

I feel your pain, I too am level-challenged. Seems find in the viewfinder, looks skewed on the print or screen.

I thought I was as well, but I've concluded that it is actually due to my scanner. For 35mm film at least, it's very hard to get the entire 6-shot strip perfectly straight in the holder. With 6x6 I have less of an excuse, of course

[KevinAllan]

If I'm shooting architecture, and if I remember, I try to leave some space around the image to allow verticals to be straightened in Lightroom

[scapevision]

try shooting a rangefinder

[Kai-san]

try shooting a rangefinder

I only know of two rangefinders that has parallax correction; the Konica IIIA and the Contax G2. But I have not heard of TLR's with parallax correction, certainly my Yashica Mat 124 does not have it. But it has a nice grid pattern on the ground glass which has saved me many times from tipping over!

[Indofunk]

try shooting a rangefinder

I only know of two rangefinders that has parallax correction; the Konica IIIA and the Contax G2. But I have not heard of TLR's with parallax correction, certainly my Yashica Mat 124 does not have it. But it has a nice grid pattern on the ground glass which has saved me many times from tipping over!

Maybe I don't understand what parallax correction is, but my Canonet has framelines that move as you focus, which I thought was what parallax correction was...

[Kai-san]

If the framelines move down and to the right when you focus on something very close, then it has parallax correction.

[Francois]

Even my Graflex has a rangefinder that moves the eyepiece...

As for cropping, I try to get things perfect in the finder but don't mind cropping when it's needed. I find it easier to crop a 6x6 shot since it doesn't need as much enlargement.

[Indofunk]

If the framelines move down and to the right when you focus on something very close, then it has parallax correction.

That's exactly what it does.

[Late Developer]

When I had by 3.5T and 2.8e, I just allowed a bit of extra room around the edges of the frame. It's only a real issue if the subject matter is closer than a couple of metres from the lens.  My old C330 had a very useful indicator and I used a Mamiya "Paramender" to compensate.  With Rollei, there are Rollei "Parkeil" supplementary lenses to assist with parallax correction.

[Bryan]

I believe the Rolleiflex uses a movable mask under the ground glass for parallax correction but I don't think the early models have it.  See how you can check in the video below.

http://vine.co/v/OXpTd5gaFt3

[Adam Doe]

I believe the Rolleiflex uses a movable mask under the ground glass for parallax correction but I don't think the early models have it.  See how you can check in the video below.

http://vine.co/v/OXpTd5gaFt3

Nope, just checked, mine doesn't do that.

[limr]

Add me to the level-challenged

I don't shoot with the intention of cropping, but sometimes the picture just doesn't quite work as well as I'd hoped, or the framing doesn't look as good as it did in the viewfinder. I'll crop it to "distill" the image into something that matches my original vision.

[jojonas~]

I'll crop it to "distill" the image into something that matches my original vision.

I do that sometimes. more often with point and shoot compacts that I don't know to well or just throw off quick shots with.

but the rest of the time, I try to correct for parallax in my mind's eye. got lots of training for that by starting out with a holga and smena 8m

[Francois]

I'm definitely in the level challenged club too. How often has anyone been able to take a crooked picture when using a tripod?
Well I have...

[Terry]

I've found that my photos have wonky horizons or unvertical vertical lines when I think about it too much.  The stuff I grab-shoot usually lines up well. 

[Photo_Utopia]

I believe the Rolleiflex uses a movable mask under the ground glass for parallax correction but I don't think the early models have it.  See how you can check in the video below.

http://vine.co/v/OXpTd5gaFt3

Nope, just checked, mine doesn't do that.

I have a Rolleiflex T and it does that, I think yours is broken. If you take off the hood and flip back the focus screen you'll see a frame that runs on two arms-I think yours have come loose.
Mark

[imagesfrugales]

Add me to the level-challenged

I don't shoot with the intention of cropping, but sometimes the picture just doesn't quite work as well as I'd hoped, or the framing doesn't look as good as it did in the viewfinder. I'll crop it to "distill" the image into something that matches my original vision.

Exactly the same here. I can't stand crooked lines where they should be straight. Even a 0.1 degree failure is visible and sometimes drives me nuts.

And I find it always remarkable how much the format (square, 3:2, 4:3 etc) influences my way to compose. But I'm also quite rigid to crop everything not needed or disturbing if necessary. Framing instant pics is the biggest challenge for me.

[everydaylanre]

Henri CB would hate me 'cuz I'm crop king!  I see nothing wrong with little adjustments here and there, or a deep crop to close in on a scene I couldn't get close enough to.

[ManuelL]

Especially with the pinhole camera and no viewfinder I am cropping often a bit to level the image or to get closer to the subject. Normally I try to compose through the finder, but with rangefinders or TLRs  I am often a bit off. Especially with the Mamiya TLR I never know what to make of that red bar coming down and not seeing the lower half of the image.

[hookstrapped]

I don't crop (except for 3D gifs to get rid of the misaligned edges).

It started out as a discipline thing -- forcing myself to compose properly, forcing myself to move my feet. But I also appreciate that it means one fewer set of decisions I need to make after taking the image.

[Aksel]

If possible I crop with my feet and arms, planned cropping sometimes occurs to get that dirty look only heavy cropping can give.
I just partly solved it by getting a half frame camera, those frames will again be cropped 
When thinking about it, my approach really differs depending on what gear I`m using, what mood I`m in and what I feel about the picture when I edit.