jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

The only reason people say this is for printing purposes. Your sensor has a ratio of 2x3 which would effectively print a nice 4x6, or 6x9 or 8x12 or 10x15 and so on. But what if your frame is matted for 8x10 or some other ratio. If you leave room to crop, you can usually get the subject framed in such a way as to crop to fit whatever size frame or matt you have.

Anvil Loc: Loveland, CO

There is one set of cases in which I actually compose FOR the crop, and that is when I am taking pictures with an ultra wide angle lens. With such a lens, everything but the center of the frame will be distorted, and the closer you get to the edges, the more apparent is the distortion. When I take a photo using an ultra wide, I will place the subject in the center of the frame, to minimize the distortion of that subject. However, I have no intention of leaving the subject in the center of the final shot. I crop the photo so that the subject is where I want it to be, and it still has minimal distortion. I have to leave plenty of room for the crop, in situations like this.

Here is an example of what I mean. This shot was taken with a focal length of 10mm, on a crop frame camera. The vase of flowers was dead center in the camera frame, but it follows the Rule of Thirds, in the crop.

BebuLamar

But I can't do that as I have only 16MP camera.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

...I do this frequently (think about cropping later)...mostly when shooting 2x3 and knowing I'm going to change to another aspect ratio, but, lately, shooting art on the wall(s). In the latter case, if I'm angled at all it shows up in post and I have to tweak the pic to "get square" to the frame of the final image (this usually done using the "transform" section in Lightroom.

Booker

I think this says it all. I always leave a little room, since my opinion of
The scene may change a bit once I get home.

Harvey Loc: Pioneer, CA

I too tend to compose my image as I see it and want it to look like when ready to print/show - yes this also may include some PP but I do that to all my images.
Harvey

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Get a better lens.

Pixie Jackie Loc: New Hampshire seacoast

In the "old days" (using film) I always tried to compose 'in-camera' because film was expensive. But even then, since I had my own darkroom, I would crop using the enlarger. But now, using digital cameras, there's no reason to shoot tight. You can shoot a scene from several angles and decide later on which works best, and THEN crop. "Better safe than sorry."
And if you always "Save" the original, the possibilities are endless. Often you see something you hadn't noticed. As several on this thread have said, "There are pictures within pictures." There's a famous Arnold Newman photograph of Igor Stravinsky at the piano. The original shot showed Stravinsky and the whole piano, but when Newman looked at it, he decided to crop the image considerably, showing the composer and only the lid of the piano. They formed a triangular shape. Everyone complimented him on the composition, but he admitted that he hadn't originally seen it that way. -- Jackie

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

What do you plan on doing with your image? If all you want is to post it on the internet then there is no need for cropping (and leaving room to do it). If you want to print your photos, then it's a matter of either cropping them or resizing them. When I take a landscape I usually want to keep everything in my photo, so I wind up resizing it (to the image size I will have printed). Resizing causes some distortion in the photo, but it's not that noticeable with landscapes. It is much more noticeable with portraits. That is why I will crop a portrait and remind myself to leave enough room to give me the size of photo I want.

Cropping a head of time is important. My wife brought a load of photos I took of our grandson to the local drugstore to have them printed. (She had them on a thumb drives so she could view them on her laptop). She was spitting fire after she got home and found that they chopped the top my grandson's head off in every single photo! The drug store printed what she gave them and the images didn't fit the paper size (4x6) that she chose. Now, whenever I give her a thumb drive, I crop all of the photos to the size she wants.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

The only guide that I use is if there is a doubt in one's mind as to how the image will be printed, I will leave a little extra room between anything of interest in the image and the sides of the " frame". Otherwise I will shoot the image to "fill the canvas" given.

epd1947

That's certainly one approach - but it depends on what you are shooting and why. There are times when a client might specify a particular size print (thereby also dictating a particular aspect ratio) - if the aspect ratio of your camera doesn't meet that need then you need to leave room to crop to achieve the size the client has specified. Also, if you don't ever crop you end up with all of your photos at the very same aspect ratio (say 3:2) - and that might not be the best proportion for the scene being captured. The aspect ratio of display or print should (imo) be a part of the creative process.

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

All advice here is food for thought. I have seen "fill the frame" which will give little to no room for a crop. I found out the hard way that if you want to print an image in a canvas wrap you had better leave some room or you will lose a good bit of the edges of your photograph which you might not want to do.

Don

SENSORLOUPE

I learned to take 2 steps backwards, if you want to print a 8x10 and get all you shot in the picture. 5x7's don't seem to be that touchy. I do like to fill the frame and if I don't watch it, 8x10 cuts some off

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

==

Shooting with a "full-frame" camera - I overshoot by about 2% if I can.

In a 4/3's sensor = not so much.

If I am using my Panasonic SX-7 (pocket camera) - NEVER.

-0-

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I pretty much do what Linda From Maine says. I'll plan ahead and try to crop in camera for the shot and for what print ratio(s) I may want to print to. Sometime I go way tight other times I leave room so I can go vertical from a horizontal.