What does “100% crop” mean in photography?
Asked 1/18/2012
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I often use “100% crop” to mean a portion of an image that has been cropped but not resized. I’ve also seen people use the term in ways that seem confusing.
What is the accepted meaning of “100% crop” in photography? Does it specifically mean a cropped section shown at full resolution, or can it refer more generally to a 1:1 pixel view? Also, what would you call the opposite—an image that has been scaled rather than shown pixel-for-pixel?
Originally by user2910. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2910
14y ago
2 Answers
17
It simply means you have cropped a portion of the image but not resized it. This is usually done to demonstrate noise or lens sharpness, where you do not want resizing to affect the image. So you want to show the original pixels, but rather than sharing 4000 x 3000 pixels, you crop out a portion at the same resolution.
So you are correct in your assumption.
"100%" refers to the resolution being equal to the original.
"crop" refers to the fact that only a portion of the image is being displayed (to avoid large files or to highlight a specific portion of the image)
I'd ignore the fact that it's cropped, that's just for convenience. So the opposite of 100% resolution is an image that is scaled/resized (up or down).
Edit: jrista's answer that 100% crop can refer to a full image is probably right. I can see that. I would call a full image "uncropped" though myself.
Originally by user4191. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4191
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
In common photography use, a “100% crop” usually means a cropped section of an image shown at 1:1 pixel display: one image pixel mapped to one screen pixel, with no resizing.
People use it to inspect sharpness, noise, artifacts, or lens performance without scaling affecting the result. Since modern image files are often much larger than a screen, only a portion of the image is usually shown—hence the “crop.”
So your understanding is basically correct: it typically means a crop that has not been resized.
The “100%” part comes from what many editors call “100% zoom” or “actual pixels.” Strictly speaking, the important part is the 1:1 pixel representation; the crop is often just for convenience or to highlight a detail.
The opposite is generally just called a scaled or resized image, or a view shown “fit to screen,” “reduced,” or “magnified,” depending on whether it was scaled down or up.
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