Cropping - Doing it before or after shooting? The third essential question that a professional photographer always asks himself/herself prior to clicking the shutter is to simplify the elements within by keeping in what's important and what's not out. Cropping the pre-visualized image while composing it in the viewfinder is one way of doing this. Choosing a suitable composition until the distracting or unimportant elements are no longer in the picture frame does this. If you are using a single focal length lens, this can be accomplished by either getting closer to your subject or changing your viewpoint slightly until the distracting elements are no longer apparent or have disappeared from view altogether. With a zoom lens, it is a matter of zooming in until the distractions are no longer visible. Blurring the background is another way to reduce emphasis on distracting elements if you are not able to get rid of them totally. If you can't get rid of the distracting elements from the scene you are composing, there is another option left - crop the unnecessary parts prior to printing your images whether you are shooting with color slides or film negatives. Nowadays, the majority of the 1-hour minilabs are able to do limited amount of cropping of the image for a fee. Furthermore, if you send in the negatives or slides to professional labs for enlargement, you can tell them which are the parts to crop. However, if you shoot color slides mainly for projection purposes, there is nothing you can do about the unwanted elements that you can't eliminate prior to recording the image on film. Also, if you sell your photos to publications, it makes good business sense to show only works that are beautifully composed and executed. In this aspect, knowing when and where to crop the intended image while composing them within the viewfinder of your camera is therefore important. Cropped images give more impact to the composition. Basically, it is to give more prominence to the main subject while making sure the surrounding areas (depending on the types of photography) help improved the photo dramatically. These photos below are examples of how cropping can help improve the impact of the respective subject matters. Four beauty contestants Zoomed closer to include only three     Landscape scene at Putrajaya Cropped: More impact now     Residential area Cropped: More impact now     Logos on a car Cropped: Closer look at the logos << Back to Main . 1 . 2 . 3 .