Thanks to a lot of you I've gotten some good tips on cropping and composing my photos. Thank you! I have a question that may seem stupid or redundant but will ask anyway. ;) 1) When cropping, are you doing so with a final image size in mind or are you just doing what works? 2) Are there "rules" (I know the standard 3X5, 5X7, etc.) for image dimensions for print or do you also do what works? Thanks for all your feedback! Lisa

Hi Lisa, In my opinion 'what works' is usually how I deal with any of my creative output. But, If I was commissioned to produce a set of Photographs at a set size then I would have to go with that. I suppose you may have to look at if you are going to be framing the picture too. A 5x11 crop is going to look a little out of place in a standard size frame such as 12x16. In that case you would have to have a custom made frame or crop the image to more suitable dimentions. Also if you are cropping to send prints to say, friends and family. They might want to put them into photo albums. A lot of photo albums are made with plastic sheets that are a standard size. The last thing you want is your granny doing her own crop:)

Alpha 101 is right, when you crop after the shot you are enlarging a smaller piece of film (less image quality).What you don't put in the image is as important as what you do.