Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I wasn't remembering where you are located either, and in fact for you it isn't that far away! But alas, you can fly back and forth to the East Coast at least twice just for the cost of an Anchorage to Barrow and back flight, and I don't remember what SEATAC to Anchorage is, but it must be about the same. But it really is worth it, because there just is no place in the Lower-48 anything like any bush town in Alaska. A whole different world.

It you ever get the chance, think about the third week in June. We have Nalukatak (literally the "blanket toss" ) to celebrate the successful hunts for Bowhead whales each spring. It's not a tourist attraction, though tourists are very welcome to share with us. It's a local community event. There's a Wikipedia page on it that has a lot of very good information. (And the three photographs are mine...)

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Agree fully... there are many photographs within a photograph. I always accent this referring to "Blowup" a movie about a guy who photographs a scene in a park (as I recall??) and only with the blowup does he see a murder taking place ... Moral, if you crop first you may lose future storied in the photo.

My routine, camera noise canceling is set low, color vivid. To edit: first Topaz Denoise, Next Topaz Detail, then adjust exposure and color Topaz Adjust and Clarity. Then crop. If the crop is significant, perhaps resize pix count using "Photozoom Classic 5" which " features a technology called "S-Spline", which allows you to zoom a photograph several hundreds of times with surprisingly good results."

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I can't agree with the implementation, but I do agree with the initial reasoning. Because while there are many photographs within each exposure, each of them requires entirely different editing if they are cropped differently.

Hence each photograph begins with the RAW data converted to an RGB format where editing begins with cropping. The RAW file of course is saved, and also the first TIFF from it is saved without cropping or further editing.

Another photograph to be derived from that particular exposure usually needs to be converted from the RAW data in its own way, and then cropped in its own way at the start of its own editing. Sometimes that initial TIFF image can be the same base for multiple photographs, which is the reason to save it along with the RAW file, as the "original". Rarely, but sometimes the same crop actually can be used multiple times but cropping the first TIFF is so easy I can't see saving an intermediate file just for that.

For those reasons the way I do it starts any new and differently cropped photograph with at least the original TIFF and more likely going all the way back to the RAW file.

Once editing is done, the second (cropped) intermediate TIFF is essentially a finished image. That TIFF image might be resampled any number of times and sharpened again, depending on how it is to be displayed. The intermediate TIFF might be used to produce a small version for email, a "framed" and "titled" thumbnail and websized version for my webpage, and different print sizes ranging for 4x6 to 24x30. (It is never used as the base for a "different" image, though additional editing might be done.)

It happens that I print directly from TIFF files rather than JPEG files. Hence for any single picture I may have quite a few TIFF variations, as well as a few JPEG variations.

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

If one saves the post processed image as another name and leaves the original untouched, I feel you can crop first, last, or in the middle. Then you can go back to the original if you don't like what you have done. Strangely, I crop first to get the overall impression of what I want the picture to look like then sharpen up other aspects such as brightness and contrast, sharpness, etc.

P.S. Love your avatar. I remember as a very young child seeing Mt. Rainier on the horizon as a "pink cloud that never moved" from the breakfast nook in our Seattle home. I'm talking 75+/- years here!

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

That's sounds complicated. Try using Capture One Pro. It's easy and fast.

Bob Boner

I first process my images in LR and PS. I don't do output sharpening on this image. I save it in a file called Master Images. Whenever I want to use the image, I copy it, close the original, and then resize it and sharpen it appropriately. This way, I can resize for small images up to the max I use (up to 24 x 36) and still have the original which has all my original work intact. I also still have the raw file if I want to start over.

RJNaylor Loc: Delmar, New York

I first get rid of bad photos but then I crop. I feel that there is often a better photo there when I crop and I would rather make edits with that image in mind, then resize and sharpen last.

tonyjag Loc: Bolton, Ma.

Using Aperture, I always crop first. Especially with radical cropping, why let what you are discarding influence the result?
And then I re-size last. With Aperture, you can always go back and make a different version from the same master, with different cropping and enhancements*. Export allows different image resolution and compression alternatives from the same version.*

*Does Lightroom work the same way? I am beginning to consider switching in case the replacement for Aperture and Iphoto that Apple is developing falls short.

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

So far, everyone who has replied are dead on for their reasons as to when to crop. They are all over the board on this one and rightly so. I will give you an insight as to how and why I do things. I start out in lightroom and then do my finishing touches in photoshop. I try to do most of my stuff in lightroom because it is non destructive and I always save a copy of the original. I will do any lens corrections that are needed in lightroom as well as basic sharpening (remember, lightroom is non destructive).

When finished, I slam it over to photoshop for everything else, including more lens correction if needed. Most of the time, I will crop straight away because I already know what I want. When I am not sure, I will wait until the end to crop as well as final sharpening because if I crop too soon and continue doing "fixes", I will have to do those "fixes all over again if I decide to undo the crop' which is a pain.

In addition, the very last thing that I do is to run a high pass filter on the photo if necessary. This happens more often than not in my case. When you run a high pass filter, most of your tools no longer function. So, if you think you are done and you see something that has to be removed or changed, you have to step backwards and remove the high pass and its' layer which is kind of a pain, but since it is the last thing that I did, it is not a big deal. I can also crop after I did the high pass thing.

Another cool thing that I sometimes do, is that I will do the majority of my photoshopping and then save the uncropped version. This way, I can recall it at a later time and then bring it back and work on it even more and then crop. I will save this copy. If I decide not to like that particular crop, I will retrieve the first on that I saved and re-crop that one. Even if I save the first one as a Jpeg (Which I usually do), I can always bring it back as often as I wish and work on it some more because it takes hundreds of times doing this sort of thing before one ever notices any loss of image. Those days of losing a lot of information when reworking Jpegs are long gone.

Tom

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

I always do my resizing first, that way any other processing (including sharpening is customized for the final image size).

mdfenton

I have a related question needing a simple answer, please. I have two options: Upsize with onOne Perfect Resize and then sharpen using Topaz Detail; OR Detail then Resize. Either or, which?
Thank you all.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I work with full size images until the last step. The last step in my PP is to output a final size image.
--Bob

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

After making a Duplicate, my first step is to level the image and then crop to the maximum possible size to eliminate the spaces lost in leveling. That leaves me with an almost full size photo with the most visible detail PP. When the PP is done, I may re-crop and/or resize if I have to e-mail it or make a print print.

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

After making a Duplicate, my first step is to level the image and then crop to the maximum possible size to eliminate the spaces lost in leveling and excess area. That leaves me with a good sized photo with the most visible detail PP. When the PP is done, I may re-crop and/or resize if I have to e-mail it or make a print print.

Chelli

Are you offering UHHers a place to crash, Apaflo?
I have never been to Alaska and it's on my bucket list.
Do let me know. Cheers!