Cropping Photographs

[Cazzie]

Hi peeps!

Now I'm a complete camera novice here so please bear that in mind (point and shoot sorta girl really and I'm a bit technically challenged lol! ). I have a Panasonic DMC-FZ8 and I'm getting some very good results with it, but what I want to know is I've seen other people mention that they've cropped their pic's to make the actual subject bigger - how exactly do you do this?

I've been trying not to zoom up to the max (x48 on my camera) as the pixles reduce to 3M and consequently the subject isn't that sharp. If I go up to x12 the pic is sharp but the subject small

eg. this Redpoll piccy I took last week....



So how do I go about it? Do I have to try and crop it on the camera before I download it or what? I've only got Paint and Fotosizer btw....

Thanks!

[mh68]

Best to crop it in an editing program on your comp than in-camera.I use a program called Irfanview, which is a free download (just do a google and you`ll find it).It`s not as sophisticated as the likes of photoshop, but ideal for basic image editing, such as cropping, altering brightness etc etc.You can also use it as an image viewer, instead of the pretty poor Windows Picture Viewer.Its also very easy to use.Just dont make the mistake of cropping an image too much or you`ll lose image quality.One other small tip - often a bit of sharpening after cropping or resizing is needed to bring out the detail, images can appear soft without it.If you decide to try Irfanview and need any advice feel free to drop me a line and i`ll try to help.

Mark H

[Cazzie]

^ Thanks for that mh68! I do infact have a Lumix photo-fun viewer which was loaded with the camera software. I've just had a look at it and it's no good as I can't actually edit the images just move them about and stuff....

I'll investigate your recommendation and thanks for the tips too!

[David Hyde]

Hi Cazzie
I looked on the web, as I don’t know your camera, but not it has a 12x OPTICAL zoom with, I guess, a DIGITAL zoom taking you up to 48x. Your lens is equivalent to 430mm or so DSLR lens that should get you into the realms of bird photography. I think a bit of advice, before you get to cropping, would help you. Firstly ignore the Digital zoom. The quality of your pictures will deteriorate when you go beyond the 12x Optical maximum. Secondly, as mh68 says, do not use the in-camera software for cropping. Your PC is a much more powerful tool. And finally you must get closer. 430mm is good, but not that good. For photographing small birds, such as the one in your photograph, you must get much closer, digital zooms and drastic cropping are definitely not the way to go. A heavily cropped image will look as though it has been taken on a mobile phone rather than through your Leica lens at 7MP. Once you have a subject that reasonably fills the frame then a some of cropping can improve the image. Don’t know your software but I have noticed several members offering their Photoshop Elements discs (supplied with some cameras) for free, so someone might be kind enough to offer you a disc – hint, hint. (I would myself if I had one).
David

[Cazzie]

Hi David,

Yep, it's got a 12x Optical zoom (gawd, this is getting technical again lol!). Apparently (manual in hand atm btw) it says this:

"This camera has a 12x optical zoom. However, if the picture size is NOT set to the highest setting for each aspect ratio 4:3/3:2/16:9 (whatever that means?), a maximum of 18x optical zoom can be achieved with no picture quality deterioration."

Aspect Ratio Picture Size Max Zoom Extra Optical Zoom

4:3 7M 12x No
3:2 6M 12x No
16:9 5.5M 12x No

4:3 5M (5M EZ) 14.4x Yes

4:3 3M (3M EZ) 18x Yes
2M (2M EZ) 18x Yes
1M (1M EZ) 18x Yes

3:2 2.5M (2.5M EZ) 18x Yes

16:9 2M (2M EZ) 18x Yes


^ and that means what exactly What's a ratio do/for?

It also says this: " A maximum of 48x zoom can be achieved with the 12x optical zoom and the 4x digital zoom when (D.ZOOM) is set to [ON] in the REC menu. However, if a picture size that can use extra optical zoom is selected, a maximum of 72x zoom can be achieved with the 18x extra optical zoom and the 4x digital zoom" - haha!

So I'm guessing here, but the higher I go with the zoom the crappier the piccy ends up - yes?

Anyway, what do you mean "get closer" to the bird! I was only about 15-20ft from it if that and if I'd have got any closer the branches would have been in the way and I would have been underneath the Redpoll taking a pic of it's butt lol!

mh68 - Okeydokey, I've downloaded the said software and even managed to get a piccy into it for editing (just practicing atm btw). So now what do I do Which thing do I select from the drop-down menu to start cropping?

Thanks for your help you two, you're being very patient with me and I appreciate it!

[mh68]

If you click edit at the top of the Irfanview window(or shift+C), then create custom crop selection you can crop to a specific image size eg 1600x1200.Click ok and the selected crop size outline will appear on the image. By holding down the right mouse button you can drag the crop outline anywhere on the image while still retaining the chosen crop size. Move it into the position you want then either press ctrl + y to crop, or click edit again and select "crop image" and it`ll crop to the chosen size.You can vary the crop size when you`ve positioned the crop outline if necessary by holding down the ctrl key and dragging the outline to the size you want.
Another way to crop,is to simply hold the left mouse button down where you want the top left corner of the crop to be on the image, and drag the crop outline to the size you want.Then do as before and either press ctrl+y or crop image in the edit menu.Doing it this way though you lose the original proportions of the image though, and will end up with an odd final image size.
Sorry if the above sounds complicated, once you get the hang of it its a 2second job to crop images.

Mark H

[HowlinWolf]

Cazzie:

The aspect ratio is the proportions of the image area. For example, in 35mm terms the film frame measured 36x24mm. That's an aspect ratio of 3:2 (3x12=36, 2x12=24)

Digital zoom enlarges a portion of the image area and the number of pixels making up the image are reduced. In other words, not all the pixels on the digital sensor are used. Optical zoom is performed by the lens alone and all the pixels on the sensor are used to form the image, so yes, you are correct in your figuring: the higher the digital zoom, the crappier the piccy.

HW

[glsammy]

I've got a legitimate version of Photoshop Elements if you'd like it. It's not the latest version, but it's still powerful software and is capable of all the cropping, sharpening and balancing you may need.
If you fancy having it, just contact me by PM with your details and I'll send it to you.

[Cazzie]

^ OK thanks glsammy! I'll have a tinkle with the Irfanview and see how I get on with it and let ya know!

Thanks Howlinwolf (I think )

mh68 - right, I'll have a go in a bit - ta for the info!

[G0NYM]

Hi Cazzie
Please allow me to recommend Faststone software they do a range of picture editing software and viewing, what I like is the fact that the viewer loads very quickly and all of it is very easy to use and free I think .There web site is well worth a visit
FastStone Image Viewer, Screen Capture, Photo Resizer ...
Martin