Leave room for crop or not?

[bwilke]

I am taking pictures of a sports team and will be doing stand up shots (poised ones) with individual and team photo's.......most of the girls order the 4x6 individual and the 5x7 team picture for the memory mate.....some of the packages include 8x10 shots. My question is when I am taking the picture do I leave room in order to crop to a 8x10 and 5x7 picture.
A few times I cropped and it cut off the top of the original....

I have a nikon D80 with three lens:
the kit lens
zoom lens of 80-200mm f/2.8
fixed 55mm f/1.8

I do not have any expensive editing software....I use picaso....

Thanks.

[A.M.D.A.]

I am taking pictures of a sports team and will be doing stand up shots (poised ones) with individual and team photo's.......most of the girls order the 4x6 individual and the 5x7 team picture for the memory mate.....some of the packages include 8x10 shots. My question is when I am taking the picture do I leave room in order to crop to a 8x10 and 5x7 picture.
A few times I cropped and it cut off the top of the original....

I have a nikon D80 with three lens:
the kit lens
zoom lens of 80-200mm f/2.8
fixed 55mm f/1.8

I do not have any expensive editing software....I use picaso....

Thanks.

Yes, I'd definitely suggest you leave some room to crop. However, since cropping will "throw away" pixels, double-check to set the resolution on your D80 at maximum, I believe it is about 10 megapixels. This should be enough to allow for light cropping and still retain enough pixels for a good quality printout.

Of the lenses you mentioned, the 55mm F1.8 will probably be best, since on the D80 it will give a field of view similar to an 82.5mm lens on a 35mm film camera. That is short-telephoto, about the ideal for general portraits. Plus, a prime will deliver better sharpness than zooms. Stop the aperture down a bit for best results, something around F5.6, F6.3, or F8.0. Also, if you can, practice with family/friends before the "big day".

Expensive editing software is not a must-have, but if you would like to be able to retouch skin blemishes, create soft-focus, etc., then there are many programs that will do the job well. Not all of them cost $$$, GIMP for instance is 100% free.

[Grandpaw]

Yes you need to leave room. Each time you go to a larger size you loose some from each of the long ends. The top and bottom remain the same. 4x6 and 5x7 are fairly close but when you jump to 8x10 you eliminate a bunch of either end. Go to one of the on line services and upload any picture and look at it in the different sizes and you will see how much will be missing. They will give you an overlay of the print on your picture so you can easily see the difference, Jeff

Remember one important thing...... you can always crop a picture but you cannot put back missing parts that were cut off.:blush2:

[OldClicker]

"Remember one important thing...... you can always crop a picture but you cannot put back missing parts that were cut off."

If your good with the software, you can. Depends on what 'it' is and how good/patient you are. - TF

[bwilke]

Thanks for the advice.....my big day is tomorrow so not a lot of time to practice...I have already taken pictures of my kids playing sports and some individual pic with the zoom 80-200mm f/2.8....haven't had the prime lens long so haven't seen many results from it.....

So I should go with the prime? and not my zoom.....?

Certainly can try both on some of the pics......

If I set my picture size to large, is that maximum resolution, or do I do that in menu?

I downloaded Gimp, but it was a bit overwhelming....should probably find the tutorial for it...

Thanks to you all...any more advise I appreciate it.....

Do you have an online photo lab that you would recommend?

Thanks.

[Grandpaw]

The most important thing I can tell you is to check your settings tonight and make sure they are what you will want tomorrow. Things like ISO,white balance, Exposure compensation, metering, type of focusing and everything else. If you have changed something last time you have taken pictures for a certain situation and forget to return the settings back to normal it will cause you problems. Also make sure everything that runs on batteries is charged up and that you have enough memory for the job.Collect everything you need the night before and double check to make sure everything is there and working. Have fun and let us know how it goes, Jeff

[bwilke]

ok...thanks for the tip....i've been taking pics out of hobbiest/enthusiast and now they are going to pay for them and I am nervous....donating proceeds back to the school......just took some pics with the prime lens of my daughter and loading them up to see how they turned out.......thanks so much

[SARtech]

If I am not mistaken, 4x6 and 5x7 are closer to full frame. It's the 8x10's that aren't. I usually leave the extra room at the top, over the head when shooting vertical, people shots.
Correct me please if I am wrong guys!

Oh, and take as many shots as you can of each person to be sure you've got "The One"(as memory allows)

It used to be even scarier before digital. :thumbsup:

Kristine

[freygr]

If I am not mistaken, 4x6 and 5x7 are closer to full frame. It's the 8x10's that aren't. I usually leave the extra room at the top, over the head when shooting vertical, people shots.
Correct me please if I am wrong guys!

Oh, and take as many shots as you can of each person to be sure you've got "The One"(as memory allows)

It used to be even scarier before digital. :thumbsup:

Kristine

You are correct, as a full frame prints out to 8 by 12 inches. ( 4 by 6 is also full frame). With 5 by 7 size, full frame size is 5 by 7.5 inches

[bwilke]

Thanks guys for all your help....took my team pictures Saturday and used the 50mm 1.8 and aperature 8. Was a very bright day with no shade but the pics turned out really good...my team "group" picture would have probably been better to use the kit lens as the corners were a bit fuzzy but cleared up with picaso on "sharpen"

I am looking at using adorama for my photo lab since they have reasonable prices and were recommended by others in this forum....

I learned a great deal already and made some mistakes but will learn from them and move forward to my next job...

Thanks guys.....