belwj Loc: Berkshires, Ma

I think I am missing something fundamental. I have a d7000, and usually use a 70 - 300 VR lens. I mostly shoot birds or other wildlife, and the vast majority of my shots are at 300 mm. So, when I snap a picture, I have a 16 megapixel image. I have to crop almost all of my shots, so i end up with an image in the 2, 3, or rarely over 5 megapixel range. So my question is, if the subject was properly focused to begin with, will my cropped image still be just as sharp as it was at 16 megapixels? Assuming not, is there a certain limit that an image should not be cropped under I should be shooting for?

Thanks for help - Will.

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

Good Question. When I nail a shot I can crop 100% and it's still as sharp. Now if I'm off just a hair the more I crop the worse it looks. When you nail it it's gold. Now if your talking about printing a photo 20x30 from a heavy cropped photo your talking a different story. Need the pixels to print. Most of my photos have at least half the pixels left, many are only cropped to get out of center of shot, not to bring closer. .. The trick to birding is not the lens it's getting closer to get the shot. Yeah, Yeah, a 500mm prime lens is better than a 70-300mm but the killer shots are still taken at close range. All this is my Opinion only, hope this helps. PS All lens have a range at which point the photo will never be Sharp, you just have to get closer....

belwj Loc: Berkshires, Ma

Thanks for the quick response. I also just found and read the other post you mentioned about the settings you use for BIF, and I am definitely going to try that also.

Roger Hicks Loc: Aquitaine

Sharp, yes.

Able to stand as much enlargement: no.

Cheers,

R.

Adirondack Hiker Loc: Southern Adirondacks

Lets answer the second question first. As long as your crop is above 200 pixels/inch (ppi), you can have a sharp image. Are you shooting in NEF or jpeg? Shoot only in NEF, so the camera does no processing. What software are you using? You spent a lot on the camera, another $100 on Elements would be a wise invenstment, and result in better images. Do as much processing in ACR part of Elements as possible, EXCEPT cropping and sharpening. Open "As a Copy" to preserve the NEF file. In Elements itself, crop the image, maybe to a little highlights/shadow adjustment. The final step is to sharpen. There are several ways to do this, I prefer high pass filter, others use unsharp mask. Save as a tiff.

belwj Loc: Berkshires, Ma

.[/quote]
Lets answer the second question first. As long as your crop is above 200 pixels/inch (ppi), you can have a sharp image. Are you shooting in NEF or jpeg? Shoot only in NEF, so the camera does no processing. What software are you using? You spent a lot on the camera, another $100 on Elements would be a wise invenstment, and result in better images. Do as much processing in ACR part of Elements as possible, EXCEPT cropping and sharpening. Open "As a Copy" to preserve the NEF file. In Elements itself, crop the image, maybe to a little highlights/shadow adjustment. The final step is to sharpen. There are several ways to do this, I prefer high pass filter, others use unsharp mask. Save as a tiff.[/quote]

Thanks to all for your input. I am currently only shooting in jpeg, and so far I have only used Picasa to do some cropping and minor adjustments. I have downloaded the GIMP manual but have not started to try to use it yet. I can understand the issue when printing, but I think what I am hearing is that if I have the proper focus to begin with, I should be able to crop as much as I want and still have a sharp image on my display. In other words, if the image is not tack sharp, it is not because I cropped it (?)

ArchieV Loc: Winter Park, Florida

Had the same problem using Picasa. You can crop in Gimp without losing any integrity. You can also size the image without losing any integrity. Make copies of several photos and open them in Gimp and play around...you'll be amazed. It's easier sometimes to play around before you read the manual just to get some hands on...then read for details.

Roger Hicks Loc: Aquitaine

Dear Will,

If you enlarge it and it's not sharp, there are only two possibilities:

1 It wasn't sharp to begin with or

2 You have over-enlarged the smaller file. Obviously a smaller file can't contain as much information as a larger one. Otherwise why would cameras have more megapixels (well, apart from marketing)?

Cheers,

R.

ArchieV Loc: Winter Park, Florida

Roger's item 2 is exemplified by this example of cropping with Picasa:
Even with a small photograph:
467KB 1600 x 1200 pixels cropped using Picasa preset 4x6 small print format results in:
138KB 550 x 827 pixels a much smaller file.
The preset sizes in Picasa can be added to.

ObieTampa Loc: Tampa, FL

What is NEF? How do I get my Canon EOS Rebel XT to shoot "NEF"? Thanks.

OBIE

Adirondack Hiker Loc: Southern Adirondacks

NEF is Nikon's version of RAW.

ObieTampa Loc: Tampa, FL

OK...showing my ignorance here....What is RAW? How do I make my Canon EOS Rebel XT shoot "RAW"?

MtnMan Loc: ID

Often but not always.

Cropping affects the Depth of Field (DOF). It makes it smaller. Your cropped area could be out of the focus area.

It may look OK on your small camera display but not when you blow it up.




I think what I am hearing is that if I have the proper focus to begin with, I should be able to crop as much as I want and still have a sharp image on my display. In other words, if the image is not tack sharp, it is not because I cropped it (?)[/quote]

English_Wolf Loc: Near Pensacola, FL

Cropping DOES NOT AFFECT ANYTHING, not the focusing, not the DOF, NOTHING. It just reduces the area you look at. It is like using a permanent magnifier.

If you want to know if your picture is worth cropping, just raise the magnification to 100%, if this is too powerful use a lesser ratio. Software drivers internally modify the image to adapt it to the screen AND resolution used so there is an logarithm sharpening taking place.

You are on focus or you are not, there is no mystery here.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

To shoot in RAW just select it in your camera. The XT is not a current Canon camera so you will have to look in your manual to see if it shoots RAW and then select it if you can.

RAW is the un-compressed data without added pre-processing that most DSLR's do when shooting in JPG. In other words, it's the picture with all the data (pixels) that the camera is capable of delivering and it's completely un altered. From that you have more data that can be post processed with software and get the best results.