Jared Polin

FIrst let me say that I'm not a professional. I don't crop often. I tend to shoot tight and get what I want in the picture and leave it at that. The only time that I do crop is when the background is too distracting, which is very, very, very rarely. I'm not a huge fan of cropping. If I do have to crop it annoys me because then I have to add steps into the post processing that I do. Less steps the better.

Looks like you are in the minority so far. People who crop "yes or sometimes" account for the large majority. (I voted Yes, but really meant Sometimes)

I crop because I can't afford the tele's that I'd like for wildlife photography. If you can spot me a Canon 500mm or the 800mm, I can assure you, I won't crop anymore...

I don't crop often for a couple reasons.

1) it's what I've been taught, and
2) why put something in the photo unless it absolutely needs to be there?
You can always get one shot one way, then zoom in or walk in closer and get the shot the other way.

THE ONLY TIME I'LL CROP is when I get a quick snapshot that can't be repeated and there just happened to be some element in the photo, ...a limb for example..., that has no purpose to be there.

This happens at times because I do freelance journalism photography, and some moments are fleeting.

This is funny....I was taught to crop. When you are shooting to layout you need to have space to crop depending on where clients are laying down type, page dimensions, etc.
Naturally, like (I'm sure) most photographers. tend to crop in camera. For me I voted sometimes, because every job is different, and you need to adjust to a clients need.
I've had shots that could have been great if only I pulled back and shot FOR the crop.

Unlike most of you, I'm not a professional. I do like capturing a good picture but that is where my abilities end. I have very little technical knowledge, although I think I have a good eye (which I think counts for a lot). I have to say that I crop, especially when taking product shots. I have just started to retake all my pictures to improve them (as some were very dated and I didn't take them in a professional manner!) Two examples that i'm proud of are http://bit.ly/a4RLRt & http://bit.ly/dDcqdk (Both of which I cropped). I know they are not anything special but seriously you guys should try to make an item as mundane as a roll of tape look interesting!!! By the way I had to watermark them otherwise they just get kidnapped by competitors!!

Really nice blog by the way, I'm in awe of your abilities Jared :-)

None yet as only just started with an SLR. However, I loved your 'crop in the camera' advice and so am trying to stick to that. The way I see it, if I aim to do that and occasionally fall short, I will keeps crops to the minimum and improve my skills.

I try not to crop at all, although, It'd be nice if all DSLR's had 100% viewfinder