In my last post I spoke about my adventures in cropping, something that I had to do for the book to an extent because the 3x2 aspect ratio of my images did not always fit the aspect ratio of the book. But there is another reason why I am going to crop more in the future, and it is an issue of technique. I look at a scene and try to figure out what magnification I need for the shot that is in my head, set the MP-E 65mm to that mag, and then attempt to grab onto whatever the subject is on with my non camera hand. I then rest the lens on that same hand so that critter and camera are on the same "platform". I focus by sliding the camera on my hand and then "bend" the area of acceptable focus by twisting my wrists(s) so that it is falling where I think it needs to be in the frame. Odds are once I get into place I cannot back out and make changes to the magnification without spooking the subject. While photographing this Chafer Beetle eating pollen...
...I though the framing was not tight enough, so I backed out to increase the magnification. But, unfortunately, the critter noticed me and took off. If I had just stayed where I was and continued shooting, I could have simply cropped in post to get the subject framing that I wanted without spooking the subject. As an added benefit I can take advantage of the depth and detail from shooting at a lower magnification. So, although I will continue to do all of my framing and composition with the view finder, I am going to crop in post more. Since Elements 2022 can upscale a crop to the original pixel count, I do not have to worry about how my images will look in print. So cropping is going to be a win win option for me if I can break some old habits...
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