The Ride

Last Friday I was finally able to get out on the Harley for a decent ride. I was out about two weeks earlier for a short ride but Friday was a good five hours being gone. I am now bringing my gear almost every time I ride. The gear back fits in the tour pack and my Enduro tri-pod in its case straps onto  cargo rack quite nicely.

Anyhow, back to the photo. I had stopped to capture some images and while walking back to the Harley I heard the throaty thumping of a group of bikers. I turned around and there were six or seven in a pack with one straggler. I got a number of shots but when cropped, this one just gave that classic rider on the sweeping turn look. 

Ok. I must admit to cropping now and again. Most everyone knows what cropping a photo is but there is a huge divide between the croppers and non-cropping purists. Yes cropping diminishes the resolution of the image, it does delete data, and OMG... It is changing the original image! Here is my argument for cropping.

Point one on diminished resolution. You have to think about how the image is going to be presented. Web, snap-shot photo, framed print, or large print each require a minimum resolution to provide a high quality print. In this case the image started out at 21 megapixel and 7 megapixel after the crop. This is more than enough for a good 13x19, so what's the big deal.

Point two regarding deleted data is true in Photoshop unless you have multiple copies. In Lightroom this is not even a factor as the original image remains untouched.

Point three concerning changes to the original image. Soooo What! It's art people. If the photographer is inspired to capture the image and then adjust, change, or even destroy it later it is totally up to the photog.

Bottom line is what ever you do to an image to make it more presentable and emotional is a good thing. If you can do this while maintaining a high standard of quality, that is even better. After all, we are creatives and in that light, we are dealing with photographic art.

Hey enough is enough!

Cya... Doug