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To crop at the camera or with photoshop
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Apr 15, 2018 10:35:31   #
ToBoldlyGo Loc: London U.K.
 
frjack wrote:
Shooting RAW or jpeg? What quality jpeg? Shooting RAW gives more mp for processing on computer.


It gives exactly the same number of megapixels for processing on a computer.

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Apr 15, 2018 10:37:42   #
ToBoldlyGo Loc: London U.K.
 
armandoluiz wrote:
Thank you all for your answers. I will cut the image at the Mac so I can be more precise about where I can cut without ruin my initial idea of the composition.


As always when I ask something here I become more confused than before, maybe I should stop ask and try it over and over 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

By the way, I shot RAW + JPEG FINE.



People seem to have become very confused in trying to answer your question. It's like Chinese whispers. It got worse and worse as it went on. It's not your fault.

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Apr 15, 2018 10:39:40   #
jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ
 
Always crop in post (on your computer with software)

armandoluiz wrote:
Hello everybody!

I have a question and I'm sure you guys and girls can help me.

I'm shot some objects and animals by long distance and I need to crop the image to get the results that I want.
So, since I'll crop the image anyway, where should I do to loss less quality as possible? At the camera or at the computer? Or doesn't matter?

I have a Nikon D3400 with 18-55 and 70-300 (both lenses are the cheap version)

Thank you all
Armando

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Apr 15, 2018 10:45:02   #
billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
 
armandoluiz wrote:
Hello everybody!

I have a question and I'm sure you guys and girls can help me.

I'm shot some objects and animals by long distance and I need to crop the image to get the results that I want.
So, since I'll crop the image anyway, where should I do to loss less quality as possible? At the camera or at the computer? Or doesn't matter?

I have a Nikon D3400 with 18-55 and 70-300 (both lenses are the cheap version)

Thank you all
Armando


I do cropping in post processing because I have more options in PP. I cannot for instance crop a horizontal image vertically in the camera, but I can in PP. So, if I am going to crop, I do so in PP.

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Apr 15, 2018 10:59:35   #
mikedidi46 Loc: WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA
 
I have no idea, which way is better, make a copy of the original, then do the crop both ways, and check results.

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Apr 15, 2018 11:24:09   #
Steamboat
 
armandoluiz wrote:
Hello everybody!

I have a question and I'm sure you guys and girls can help me.

I'm shot some objects and animals by long distance and I need to crop the image to get the results that I want.
So, since I'll crop the image anyway, where should I do to loss less quality as possible? At the camera or at the computer? Or doesn't matter?

I have a Nikon D3400 with 18-55 and 70-300 (both lenses are the cheap version)

Thank you all
Armando



The answer is ....it doesn't matter.The computer in LR is your better choice ..You can change your mind later

That said:
Maybe I don't understand how most of you look at the finished image? Maybe in my 40 year experience,I have been doing it wrong?
I basically learned how to think about the image and photography at a Fine Art college in the 1970s, then real world working for clients.
This way of working translates to digital as well no matter how big your sensor is.

Decide your shot/and make the photo, before you shoot . Choose the lens for your preconceived perspective and fill the frame IN THE CAMERA....zoom with your feet.

Of course leave a little for tweaking and straighting as need. Never never throw away more pixels that you have to. I would rather add background in PS then throw out pixels
There are times where a client will have many uses and you need to leave room for many different formats ....but that should be the exception not the rule.
Leaving too much room waters down the images ( I don't mean IQ). A photo will have more impact if you fill the frame when shooting.

If you shoot with the intention of dong major cropping later you have lost the tool of choosing perspective with your Lens choice.

Now with this said sometimes you have no choice. And in those cases still, fill the frame as much as you can and only then crop, in PS or LR

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Apr 15, 2018 11:34:38   #
jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska
 
CatMarley wrote:
To lose as little quality as possible, you should try to "crop in camera" as much as possible. With slide film, that is all one did - frame the composition in camera was all you COULD do. Then some minimal cropping can be done in post processing without losing a big chunk of those megapixels you paid so much for!



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Apr 15, 2018 11:52:31   #
armandoluiz Loc: Oppland, Norway
 
amfoto1 wrote:
As far as image quality loss, it really doesn't matter. Assuming you were able to perform exactly the same crop either way, the resulting image size, resolution, etc. will be identical.

However, it's far easier to perform an accurate crop with your computer, which no doubt has a much larger screen than your camera. Also, in your computer you can work on a copy of the image and save the original as is, in case you screw up the changes you're making. You probably can't do that in-camera... any changes you make are to the original and there's no "undo".

Also, if you shoot RAW files (Nikon NEF I think), those are better to work with than JPEGs... RAW are worked in 16-bit mode, while JPEGs are 8-bit. In other words, RAW have a lot more latitude for changes made during post-processing. If the in-camera crop can only be done to a JPEG file, then it would usually be better to wait and do the crop during the RAW conversion process.

However, when you press the shutter release, any digital camera initially makes a RAW file.... And when you set the the camera to "RAW" it saves the entire file. But when you set the camera to "JPEG", it basically does a very fast post-process of the RAW file in-camera... according to the settings of the camera such as contrast, saturation, sharpening, noise reduction, etc.... and then "throws away" whatever data the camera deems unnecessary, reducing the image from 16-bit to 8-bit and more. When you shoot RAW + JPEG, you'll see the difference in size between the two files of the same image. The data that was "thrown away" when making the JPEG might be important when you are making other changes. Final cropping and down-sizing of an image is usually one of the last steps in post-processing an image, so that other changes and edits are made with as much of the original data as possible available to work with. When you do an in-camera crop, you are essentially reversing the process and making at least some of the image down-sizing one of your first steps. And ending up with an 8-bit image, which will have less latitude to make additional adjustments and edits to later.

8-bit images have roughly 17 million colors... which sounds like a lot until you consider that 16-bit images have around 23 trillion to work with. Oh, and your camera actually captures 14-bit.... but software interpolates that as 16-bit (actually some Nikon capture 12-bit or have the option to capture 12-bit to be able to shoot faster and save space on the memory cards... But 12-bit is also interpolated to 16-bit during RAW post processing.)

Ultimately, for most purposes (printing, online display, etc.), in the end you'll want an 8-bit image and a file type that virtually anyone can view on a computer without need for add'l software... a JPEG. It's more than enough for most purposes. But in the process of making that JPEG, a lot of the adjustments and work are better done in 16-bit mode, before the image is reduced to the final JPEG. There are some exceptions where the image is kept 16-bit... such as commercial usages where a client may specify a 16-bit TIFF or PSD file because they plan to do additional work on it later. But for the vast majority of uses an 8-bit JPEG is more than enough.

Finally, think of a RAW file as a "digital negative" and the corresponding JPEG as the final print that's made from it. I carefully archive my RAW files just as I did negatives back in the days of film. I can always make another finished JPEG/print from them. The original RAW/negative itself is irreplaceable. If a camera converts the image to JPEG in the process of cropping an image... if it doesn't save a RAW original... for that reason alone I wouldn't use in-camera cropping.
As far as image quality loss, it really doesn't ma... (show quote)



...and here is the answer I was looking for (I guess)
Thank you so much.

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Apr 15, 2018 11:53:02   #
rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona
 
I crop in processing. If doing a portrait, I'll leave a little extra room around the subject so I can crop afterward. For landscape, I'll pretty much compose in camera but will lose a bit off the long sides of the image due to what I like my final print size to be. Though I do crop in processing, I try to make the image as close as possible to what I want in the camera.
--Bob

armandoluiz wrote:
Hello everybody!

I have a question and I'm sure you guys and girls can help me.

I'm shot some objects and animals by long distance and I need to crop the image to get the results that I want.
So, since I'll crop the image anyway, where should I do to loss less quality as possible? At the camera or at the computer? Or doesn't matter?

I have a Nikon D3400 with 18-55 and 70-300 (both lenses are the cheap version)

Thank you all
Armando

Reply
Apr 15, 2018 11:55:43   #
armandoluiz Loc: Oppland, Norway
 
Steamboat wrote:
The answer is ....it doesn't matter.The computer in LR is your better choice ..You can change your mind later

That said:
Maybe I don't understand how most of you look at the finished image? Maybe in my 40 year experience,I have been doing it wrong?
I basically learned how to think about the image and photography at a Fine Art college in the 1970s, then real world working for clients.
This way of working translates to digital as well no matter how big your sensor is.

Decide your shot/and make the photo, before you shoot . Choose the lens for your preconceived perspective and fill the frame IN THE CAMERA....zoom with your feet.

Of course leave a little for tweaking and straighting as need. Never never throw away more pixels that you have to. I would rather add background in PS then throw out pixels
There are times where a client will have many uses and you need to leave room for many different formats ....but that should be the exception not the rule.
Leaving too much room waters down the images ( I don't mean IQ). A photo will have more impact if you fill the frame when shooting.

If you shoot with the intention of dong major cropping later you have lost the tool of choosing perspective with your Lens choice.

Now with this said sometimes you have no choice. And in those cases still, fill the frame as much as you can and only then crop, in PS or LR
The answer is ....it doesn't matter.The computer i... (show quote)


Very good, thank you very much.

Reply
Apr 15, 2018 12:26:26   #
Love Wildlife
 
Hi all,

I have cropped on my camera and you do loose megapixels the same as if you cropped on the computer. I can see more of what I am losing when I crop on the computer by saving a copy to keep from losing too much since I like to print in 11x14 and 13x19. Hope this was helpful.

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Apr 15, 2018 12:48:15   #
redron57 Loc: Fairfield, Ca SF Bay Area
 
shoot raw and jpeg or just raw
In raw when editing you lose nothing when you save it back to computer save it as a psd to keep the original raw file and then jpeg for the web
when you edit in raw and save it you keep all the editing open in the file so you can go back and change it
this is the master file when you save it as a jpeg it combines all the layers created in raw and is no longer able to edit it except for color and basic stuff but as a jpeg every time you edit you lose picture quality So raw is the bomb.
also most websites will only accept jpeg as a file as raw can become very large
ron

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Apr 15, 2018 13:14:07   #
Steamboat
 
This thread is a computer question but it should be a shooting question.
You get a better result if you think before you shoot and fill the frame.

Reply
Apr 15, 2018 13:16:27   #
Pro1
 
A lot depends on what print size you want, so zoom in your lens and the crop in post processing. That will give you the best quality possible. Having said that I am waiting for a camera mfg to come out with a camera that will provide crop lines in the camera so you can zoom to those lines in the print size you want in post processing. For example, 4x6 for family shots, 8x10 for portrait, 11x 14 or larger for wall mounting.

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Apr 15, 2018 13:21:44   #
Steamboat
 
Pro1 wrote:
A lot depends on what print size you want, so zoom in your lens and the crop in post processing. That will give you the best quality possible. Having said that I am waiting for a camera mfg to come out with a camera that will provide crop lines in the camera so you can zoom to those lines in the print size you want in post processing. For example, 4x6 for family shots, 8x10 for portrait, 11x 14 or larger for wall mounting.


Make a mask for your LCD, to give you a feel for the end result

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