Hope this one helped! If you're interested, check out my new photography zine "The Sinking Sun" here! : www.andrepel.com/books

I once attended a talk bu someone who shot for National Geographic for years and took many of the magazine's covers. She said (I paraphrase) "Before you press the shutter ask yourself 'why am I taking this photo in this place at this time?'. If you can't answer that question, don't press the shutter" That's deceptively simple. Doing this will make you more mindful when you're shooting and very likely will produce better images.

This is the first lesson I learned from my first photography class: a photographer operates in reverse of a painter. A painter starts with an empty canvas and gradually adds elements to the frame. A photographer starts with a scene and gradually removes elements that shouldn't be in the frame.

Cropping has been in practice as long as photography has existed! It amazes me that people scoff at this practice!

I started out with many lenses with auto everything cameras. Now I am 67. I now own only one manual camera, the Leica M240 and a manual 35mm lens. As with photography subtraction is essential, so too with the equipment. I now see the world through a 35mm lens in black and white. The colours don't distract as I capture the essential. Manual focussing allows me to be take my time to subtract. The rangefinder requires both the eyes to be open so as to subtract what is not needed in the framelines. I zoom with my feet, subtracting what is not needed. Subtraction is an art where the only thing you need to add is time.

On many occasions I go back to my photos {mostly Street} a few days after I took them, and realise the elements that lead me to take the image in the first place are there, but often lost amongst unnecessary surroundings. It is then that I start my cropping, and am frequently delighted to find that what I thought to be a bit “ordinary”, is now quite a decent image. I strongly recommend waiting a day or so before making these decisions because you then see your image in a new, and fresh perspective.

100% of the absolute best shots you missed are those you did not take. These few minutes of video contain more wisdom about what "photography" is all about than what you will find in any book. Bravo Andre, and thank you!

Simple, but profound. The misunderstood no cropping advice comes from the introduction of grainy 35mm film, and color slides. 35mm film degraded very quickly when cropped and of course with slides which were all a standard size, processed and mounted by someone else, it was all but impossible to crop after the shot. The advice then was not "zoom with your feet", but "crop in the viewfinder." That has all changed with digital where you have control of the whole process, but people keep repeating the same old advice they heard somewhere in a world that no longer exists.

Starting (again after years) with the X100V helped me understand this deeply. Find the general scene that grabs your eye. Zoom with the feet to frame it. Finish composing the shot and push the button. Then, working with zooms (e.g. 28-70mm), I learned to punch in and frame, taking out stuff at 28mm and going to 50mm or even 70mm. One shot I took of a car's gorgeous back end provides proof of concept. You follow the line and that's really all the eye needs for that car shot, not more. Nice video. Simple but instructive.

Spot on, best advice any photographer can get or pass on. Before Photoshop in the days of 35mm film, I did my cropping when printing pictures. It was surprising how often you could get an interesting image from what seemed to be nothing special. The essence of this advice relates to colour v B&W photography. ‘Taking away’ the colour somehow ‘simplifies’ an image and allows us to concentrate on shapes and contents. But I have always preferred B&W images and still do.

You're absolutely right about cropping. especially with the high megapixel cameras these days, it gives you a lot of real estate to work with, why wouldn't you want to get it just perfect so it looks as best as it can. I can see why people scoff at composites but cropping and straightening shouldn't be an issue with anybody.

Andre, what you just said pretty much applies to everything we do. Much thanks!

A sincere and noble thanks for an incredibly helpful tip!!!!!!!

French aviator and author of Le Petit Prince, Antoine de St Exupéry, once wrote: « Perfection is not reached when nothing else can be added to the work, but when there is nothing left to substract from it. »

wonderfully worded and very valuable insights, thank you for sharing

This is the first time a title that looked like clickbait, it wasn't. And for that you got yourself a new subscriber. Thanks for sinking in more deeply a though that I have been toying with in my head for the past few months, but you just gave it a name: "What can I remove". I'll print some stickers and put them on my lens caps so I get reminded every time I grab my camera. Thank you!

As far as cropping is concerned, I always try to leave a little space around my composition, as most of the time my photos are not perfectly horizontal and I need to rotate them slightly in post-production. We have the luxury of many superfluous pixels, so we can use them to our advantage.

I like your style of being direct and common sense- well said!

Great tips! I’m also trying to apply this subtraction in my daily work as a designer.

Finally a good video about a practical guide on how to take better photos. Thank you!

Thank you for sharing your effective knowledge.

First time watcher. What a great intro your channel. I’ve subbed.

I've been watching your channel since your Bronica film camera videos. It's great to see your channel starting to take off!

This is great advice and a dope philosophy that can apply to so many things. Thanks for dropping a gem.

Such a terrific video!

Good point. One practical way I do that after bringing it up on the computer is to put a frame on it and adjusting it's size, shape and location to see what composition might work better.

great video! will keep this in mind the next time i go out to shoot with my XT4!

And this is why medium tele lens like 85, 90 or 105mm is useful. In the context of street photography, I think some good examples are Saul Leiter and Ralph Gibson. No, it's not about bokeh or compression, but tight, less cluttered framing. This is a bit challenging on wide angle lenses because you tend to put more stuffs in the frame. But sometimes, more objects in the photo can work great, e.g Alex Webb, which is known for his "layered framing".

Excellent advice... always accentuate the positive and disregard the negative..!! Enjoyed your narrative and images hugely. 🤗

thanks for the video. Interesting perspectives!

"Cropping is cheating"? Every time you point the camera in a particular direction, you are cropping everything else out of the photo. Whether this occurs in camera or in post makes no difference. I consider cropping the image my most important tool in creating a successful picture. Also, determine whatever has drawn you to a scene and maximize that element.

this is so true. i need to watch videos like this often

Great advise👍🏼 helps a lot!

This was amazing thank you

Thank you - My life is visual, you reminded me of that.

Excellent advice!

Loved this! It makes so much sense and I think it is what I unconsciously seek to do. I tend to shoot with the longer lengths of my 14-140 telephoto lens and I also use a 25mm prime with my Micro 4/3 Lumix. I enjoyed the way you spoke of these ideas. Very clear and simple. But elegant in some way. A bit mind shifting. Eliminating any excess in your ideas, just as you suggest in thinking about photography. Very nice!

your video just became my go to for new photographers asking me why i recommend a nifty fifty prime over anything else for beginners. thank you. 💙

If cropping was good enough for Alexey Brodovitch then it’s good enough for me. The video we needed. Thank you.

Pure genius!

Wonderful.. Loved it. ❤❤❤❤

Andre, this was very good, thank you!

This is great advice, I have taken photos from when I started in the 60s, many years ago and each time I shoot there is always some magic in the light and the subjects. It is hard to believe that someone would not want to crop in the darkroom (way back when) or now on your computer. It is just one of many tools to enhance your images. However you are right the closer to the final image you can get while shooting, the better off you are.

I'll add something: Learn Graphic Design. As a graphic designer and Art Director, I realize that most photographers (that I see on instagram) have a lesser developed "global" eye than graphic designers. With graphic design you learn to master all mediums and all aspects of visual arts, and mature a global eye that photographers often lack. It's easier and quicker to become good in photography with no tuition coming from visual arts and graphic design in general, than starting as a photographer and sticking to photography only even with tuition. You limit yourself IMMENSLY from maturing your eye in diverse contexts and using different mediums. For example, knowing how to frame a photo comes from graphic design -knowing how much space you need between the borders and the photo according to a photo specifically, or if you even need a border, or if it's better to display your photo in large or in small: you need a graphic designer eye, not a photographer eye. Photographers who are bad at framing their photos is the number one most common issue I see photographers struggling with on instagram, then comes photo cropping and composition

Thanks.... good advice.

Hey, Andre, nice bit of practical advice. You have a 'truth as I see it and No BS) vibe! Refreshing 👍

Makes sense to me. Pointing a specific camera with a specific lense somewhere is already a choice, or number of choices, ergo a whole string of subtractions from a given reality, so it goes from there. Fiddling with the dials etc. is just a continuation of that process.

This is why I became instantly fond of the 45mm (on m4:3) after starting on a 17mm. Because on the 45mm you leave out a lot, it's easier to pick a subject apart. 17mm is a lot more thinking, less opportunities to capture a great shot with it, you need the right scene, finding the right distance between you and your subject is harder. That said, my all time fav shot of mine was taken on the 17mm (and cropped out a lil' of course, I'm a graphic designer originally). Precisely 4 days after starting photography from scratch ("let that sink in", I tell myself all the time

Thank you for sharing a great approach to be applied to photography. I need to get better at composition, before I take a picture. Although I end up applying some of your ideas while editing, I wish I could do it in real time before I hit the shutter button!

Great tips and common sense

"... remove everything that is not the photo." Love it!

Very useful... thanks 👍

5⭐️ Your eloquence and fresh presentation style is superb, André! Greetings from Cape Town.🇿🇦

Very deep my friend! I am glad I ran into this vlog!

Excellent video.

I've stood a dozen times in the exact spot at 0:40, I can even see my apartment building from there, and also the same spot at 1:50 going down the stairs...lol.

Great video, thanks. Does this principal apply to videography as well?

Saw u first time. Like what u said. Learned something. So: Subscibed 🙂

Great video Man 👌

"They spend too much time thinking and fantasizing about photography instead of going outside and actually taking photos." Lol, wow you just called me out 🤣 this is a good video though. Thank you!

Nice bro this video has some great insights

Well said.

Its all about focus, and sometimes focus means to introduce elements into your photo - such as foreground elements. I agree that usually, in photography at least, less = more - but only when that less emphasizes your subject

Good advice ❤

That’s a cool spot, I shot there during sunrise and the morning time, it’s unbeatable views!

Problem with this advice is that it suggests everything has to be planned. Sometimes you don’t have the luxury of time to plan and think. The creativity comes in how you then frame and make your choices in that moment. You can have all the time in the world to plan and still decide the next morning that you don’t like what you did. If you’re at the stage where you’re ready to press the shutter, I don’t see the point in not going ahead. You’ve already made the decision to take the shot, why then back out?

I clicked on this in a moment of boredom, thinking I was going to see another advanced amateur pretending to vast expertise and blowing smoke up the fundamental posterior orifice of the inexperienced, in order scam a few cents out of KZfaq. Imagine my surprise when Andre's piece was prefaced with his amateur status, then went on to offer good, valid and uncommon advice. Outstanding.

I shot for many years street enviorment with expensive primes. Being told by so called famous street photographers on multi media. I learned that primes are not the best for street photography at all. For the reason you just made clear in this video. So now I make much better pictures with a 35-150 zoomlens and I1m able to make the most stunning pictures. Even better as those so called top photographers with their bunch of primes.

Good stuff man. Photographing whatever is there is called snap-shooting. The point isn't to see from horizon to horizon, it's to identify the Muse.

Practice makes perfect. Faffing out of doors makes your approach efficient, you quickly spot what kit is just carried. Taking images leads to better images, processing improves processing skills. If you don’t go regularly taking photos you aren’t doing photography

Great tips. I’d love for you to do at least 1 walkthrough scenario and show your way of thinking.

Great tips! Thank you!

Thumbnail is dope AF!

One thing I like to do is similar to “what you leave out” (may even be just a different form of it) I like to call, “and also.” In this, a shallow depth of field is needed, but you’re not “leaving things out” so much as using it as your backdrop to what you’re focusing on. Example would be taking a picture of a sidewalk cafe. Blur out the bustling cafe as your backdrop and put a single table where someone had just left as the subject. The idea is to have the majority of the image be the blurred out bustling cafe with just that table in focus. May not be the prettiest subject ever but the contrast between abandoned table and bustling cafe in the blurred out background may evoke a sense of melancholy or curiosity over what just took place at that table. Something to experiment with as it doesn’t work for everything. Oh, one final note about this: People are _never_ the subject here, only ever part of the blurred out backdrop (if you have people at all). If you do have people, you don’t want a strong blur either, they still need to be recognizable as people. The idea is “something happened here, what was it, and also this took place in X.” The example isn’t the best, but you get the idea.

In landscape photography I often change the aspect ratio to crop in camera. Thus it would be churlish to argue against cropping in post production.

Love your stuff. Do you live in Long Beach man?

All true. Depending on do you want to leave in context. If you only shoot subjects, this is fine. If you do documentary however, you have to master the art of the whole image, and compose it well. And so that everyone understands the situation. Greates street shots are documentary or commentary, not isolated subjects.

4:17 This is exactly why the term “making photos” has been getting on my nerves. We are capturing the world not making it :) great video! Also yes obviously this has more to do with a non-studio context

I have another take on the concept of "Negative". When I teach my assistants, I'll tell them to not get greedy. All too often I see beginners trying to jam as much "stuff" as they can into a photo, thinking they don't want to miss anything. Instead, I encourage them to, as you said, cut out the noise and clutter. Decide on what's important and leave out everything that is not. Side note, on one of the shots with the X100VI, at 4:33, there was a light tan color strap. Which brand and model is that? Anyhoo... great video concept. Look forward to seeing more.

One thing my dad said to me... fill the frame with your subject. I try to follow this mostly and I like your comment about if it works it works. After all, it's my photo . I just want to enjoy the process. Excuse me... gotta go out ... let me grab the camera.

"Cropping is cheating" is one of the dumbest things I've heard in a long time, and it's been gathering momentum a lot over the last 3 or 4 months for whatever reason.

Agreed on the crop, if it works it works. I just don't do it cause I'm perfectly perfect 😂 Joke aside I only use cropping when I messed up my horizon or need to work perspectives but then I get mad because I really like, in the process of taking a photo, to get my framing right and generally I frame tightly (don't want to use the word "precisely", too pretentious) so the cropping removes things. But hey, if it can save the photo why not?

LOL I been cropping for only 49 years , I started way back when using film !

Less is more is not just for photography. Graphic Design and Copywriting are always better when less is more.

maintaining a 'no cropping' attitude keeps and makes you sharper as well as allowing the photoing process to remain both existent and enjoyable.

hype

Take as many photos as you can. Just walking around.... pick a spot and take a few photos.... when you think thats enough of that particulr spot.... take just a few more. You learn by editing your images and the more mistakes you make the more you learn, the quicker you learn. I taught myself photography by looking at National Geographic. Very often their books are on sale in large bookstores.... go and buy a couple. Even if the genre of your photography is totally different.... my genre is sports.... you will learn what a good photo is and why and you will learn about composition....

+1. It took a while, but I found it.

I feel like adding things that were not actually present is cheating. But cropping is the whole point of photography. Limiting the composition by either distance or angle and sometimes light itself are things we all do with our cameras to bring out a subject.

❤🙏subscribed

Peace

It did. You put some thought into this, removed los pensamientos del toro and what is left shows that you are right about cropping, that there's nothing immoral about it. Since photographers do so, starting with the shot in their mind's eye, why not get out the scissors? It is hard for me to get too close to strangers so a prime lens of 50mm and a 135mm-my go-to glass for 35mm. Not a d-digital guy.

photography Rizzzzz

Never got the "no crop" rule... what to do? Let a good photo not been seen because you won't cut out the distracting things? That would be stupid as ... i cut, i stamp, i do "border patrol" and i remove everything that is not "david" of my photos... so should you.

I don't consider cropping as cheating but think Photoshop and the like come close.

No sound

Mostly subtractive- not always.

Less truly is more.

not entirely true, you can learn to use anything shown in the frame as an advantage - not disadvantage. I do a lot of documentary photography and it took me a few years to consciously use this method (less crop = better etc) - although this might be specific for doucmentary of course

Unfortunately, you didn't give a single concrete example. You didn't bother to show a photo you took, talk about what you think you could have removed to make it better and then show one where you did take a photo that applies the principle. You were so elated with your wisdom that you satisfied yourself by just to espousing your mantras. Please come back to earth and relate to us normal humans.