Most of the time I try as much as I can to avoid cropping away much of my images and to get the composition as right in the camera as possible. I feel like I’ve cheated and compromised the image if I have to resort to cropping to correct poor composition. There are times however, when the elements in the photo just don’t line up or look right to me in the 2 x 3 shape that most digital camera sensors use. In situations like this, where I feel like changing an image’s aspect ratio will improve it, I try to stick to the more traditional proportions such as 8 x 10 (or 4 x 5 for you math whizzes), or the square format. When I’m shooting images like this, I’m usually shooting with this in mind and I’m planning for the crop as I’m making the capture, so I see it as part of the pre-visualization process, as opposed to a processing “fix”.

Here’s a couple images I made recently where I felt the 8×10 shape was a better fit: