Cropping Wide
For the longest time I thought of myself as the ”50mm” guy. It became my favourite focal length around 2012 or 2013, when I got the Olympus OM-D E-M5 and a 50mm equivalent f1.4 Panasonic Leica lens. Maybe part of the magic was just how good that lens was. To this day it remains the lens I have taken most photos with, even though I sold it in 2017 alongside most of my micro four thirds gear.
Leica DG Summilux 25mm f1.4 lens on a micro four thirds camera. Cropped to 3:2 aspect ratio.
Leica DG Summilux 25mm f1.4 lens on a micro four thirds camera. Cropped to 3:2 aspect ratio.
As years passed I started to feel more comfortable with a wider focal length. Many of the photos I have taken with a 50mm lens now seem a bit too tight and crammed. I started wanting to see more of the context and the subject in its environment. I suspect a part of this shift in preferences has been due to owning a Fujifilm X100F that has a fixed 35mm equivalent f2 lens. I adored using that camera and took a whole bunch of photos with it.
Fujifilm X100F
Fujifilm X100F
Fujifilm X100F. Cropped to 16:9 aspect ratio.
What has taken me by surprise, however, is that during the past couple of years I have really started to gravitate towards photos that are shot with a 24-35mm focal length and cropped wide. And by wide I mean at least 16:9 but often even wider aspect ratios that you might see in movies. Namely 2.35:1 and 2.20:1.
Fujifilm X100VI. Cropped to 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
Fujifilm X100VI. Cropped to 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
I really like that cinematic look and feel a wide aspect ratio brings. A couple years ago I bought a second-hand (or probably at least a third-hand, if not fourth-hand) Leica Q, which was originally released in 2015. The images that it creates blew my mind: 28mm f1.7 in a full frame sensor and cropped wide have an amazing feel to them.
Images shot with a 35mm focal length often also work well when cropped wide, but I don’t get the same feeling from photos shot at longer focal lengths. It’s also fairly usual that these wider focal lengths contain too much information or things that are less interesting in 3:2 framing. Cropping wide solves that AND creates a cinematic feel. Like the photo is a still from a movie.
Now obviously this does not work with all photos. There needs to be at least some distance between the camera and the subject. But I think the possibility to crop wide adds to the versatility of the 24-35mm focal length.
Leica Q. Cropped to 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
Leica Q. Cropped to 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
Leica Q. Cropped to 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
I was recently in Finnish Lapland with just a Ricoh GR with me. This is a camera that was released in 2013. It has a 16mpix APS-C sensor and fixed 28mm equivalent f2.8 lens. And holy damn did I love the photos that came out of it. But only after cropping them wide.
Ricoh GR. Cropped to 2.20:1 aspect ratio.
Ricoh GR. Cropped to 2.20:1 aspect ratio.
Ricoh GR. Cropped to 2.20:1 aspect ratio.
Ricoh GR. Cropped to 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
Ricoh GR. Cropped to 2.20:1 aspect ratio.
Every now and then I stumble upon an article or a video that talks about photographic style, and how one should go about discovering it. I have never before felt a pull towards a particular style or a particular way of shooting, so I have had a hard time with that advise. But perhaps now, for the first time in 20 years of being an amateur photographer, I am feeling that pull, and more importantly feel like I want to explore taking wide cinematic photos further. Or I might be just imagining things. There’s always a chance that this is just a fleeting interest. It remains to be seen.