....it's "compositional hindsight". 😝
Yes! Nothing wrong with that, I'd say :)
Cropping can be compositional foresight, too. Sometimes I compose with the intent to crop later. Very popular in wildlife photography, especially with DSLRs where the best focus point is in the center.
It's a habit hard to adapt to if you spent a lot of years shooting slides, which pretty much have to be right as shot, but I am gradually learning to shoot a little bit sloppy in digital, with the expectation that I can then crop. You can cut out something you don't need, but you can't retroactively add something that didn't get in.
I do a lot of traveling, often making hasty shots as I cannot stop and set up and hold up a group of hikers or whatnot. For this, the ability to shoot wider than you need provides for a bit of haste, and allows such things as horizon correction without losing the subject, as well as allowing you to figure out the best composition later.
As Spencer mentions, part of this has to do with the fact that the best, and quickest, AF is to put your subject dead center, and if you're chasing a bird in flight or the like, the first thing you need to do is get it. If you worry too much about calcuating the composition, it flies away.
When there's time and opportunity, I still like to "get it right in the camera," but here we are with the benefits of digital technology, so why not enjoy them?
For sure, I have used it in cases where I've gotten as close as I dare to an animal and then cropped in, and I've used it for quick shots, but more often than I care to admit, I've used it for "How the hell did I not see that giant distracting thing??" 🙄
I think there is nothing shameful about using cropping and different kind of softwares like those from Topaz or On1 and so on. ( It has to remember that,in wet darkroom,many procedures were used to get what was wanted.) Thank You.
Yeah! I wish I could never crop but it's just not realistic, especially when you only have 2 seconds to take the shot.
Some iconic photos are cropped. E.g. the naked vietnamese girl or the shot man during Spanish civil war.....it's "compositional hindsight". 😝
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