If ever there was a case for getting things right first time "in camera" this is it. One of the great things about digital photography is that there is great flexibility, if it doesn't look just so, then there's always the opportunity to rotate it a bit, crop it a bit and perform a myriad of other adjustments to get the shot you want.

But this flexibility comes at a price. Whenever we crop or adjust the rotation we lose some pixels; consequently the overall picture quality may suffer.

Picture 1 is a rather boring shot of some flowers in my garden. Supposing I decided that I didn't like the orientation and just wanted to nudge it round by 2° as in Picture 2. That might not sound much but the trade off is that that little nudge would cost me 8% of my pixels. Supposing I decided that I wasn't close enough, and that I wanted to lose 10% from around the border, as in picture 3. How many pixels would I lose, 10%? No, I'd lose a whopping 36%. That is surely going to have a detrimental effect on my overall picture quality. Now, that may not matter if it's just going on photoblog as everything is scaled down anyway, but if you want a high quality print, that could be the difference between having one that's fantastic and one thats just ok. So it really would pay to put that little bit of extra effort in up front.

Excellent point, Jon. As a designer, I have to always consider how large the image will 'print' as opposed to the amount of PS I can do to it or how much cropping I can do before I lose too much. You are absolutely correct that we must consider the whole frame and shot at the time of action to alleviate this concern, but imagine doing that during a high paced action sports event or a buzzing bee that you are trying to frame as a macro. It's surely tough, and the idea that film can be much more easily enlarged to whatever size without losing 'pixels' is nice, but the advantages to shooting digital [specifically RAW] are above that I believe. Nowadays, 10, 12, 20 MP digi's are the fad and we can easily make crops and enlarge for full page press without concern. My point? I say, just shoot for the moment, worry about post-processing later and get what you can. It's all art anyway. =) smbunation · 2009-09-24: 22:09

Interesting point. My photo class instructor said exactly the same thing. Get it right in the camera. However, we start the photoshop section of the class on Monday! ????? · 2009-09-24: 23:01

That is why I never make changes to my original picture, but only one copy. ;o) Interesting post Jon. Ryana · 2009-09-25: 02:08

Good point! jet28 · 2009-09-25: 02:58

For once your 'techno-blog' is making sense to this little Humbilious :-) It's very interesting and I didn't know that so much was lost in the way of pixels. I only tend to use crop. When I make macros (say of a butterfly) I aim to get the shot I want without any crop, but as I go slowly into the space, wondering at what point the butterfly will take off, I take as many shots on the way in as possible. Sometimes these shots are better than the close-ups and I can use a small amount of crop later, so I do try very hard for the least amount of crop as possible...great post :-) ????? · 2009-09-25: 06:03

Great! I'm learning. :) ????? · 2009-09-25: 06:44

Thanks for the info, Jon....I seriously did not know so many pixels were lost in cropping. Haven't printed out many of my shots, but intend to at some point. This will certainly give me more incentive to compose my shots in the camera instead of relying so much on post-processing. lookagain · 2009-09-25: 08:38

I don't usually edit or crop my shots- I think it's an art to get it out of the camera right the first time~ you did a good job explaining why this is important!~ nice job urmysunshine · 2009-09-25: 09:27

Nice shots and Point! I'm learning everyday :) onlyricky · 2009-09-25: 13:16

Very interesting post, Jon. I usually touch levels with photoshop. XD ????? · 2009-09-25: 16:24

Wise words tricky · 2009-09-25: 19:19

Well, that was very interesting, never thought of pixel loss when rotating :-/ Good thing i always leave my originals as they are :-)) thanks for the info Jon!! eternity65 · 2009-09-26: 11:38

Good info. I'm a bit crop happy at times when I can't get what I want and sometimes I forget about how much I'm losing. thebronzebow · 2009-09-26: 21:03

for me all your flowers are excellent. gonia · 2009-09-28: 11:30

Tagged: quality pixels rotation cropping crop flowers