Originally Posted by BrutalMaster

I am a professional photographer and the answer to your question truly varies with what you intend to do with the image. It has to do with what we call pre-visualization, that is, seeing the final output before you ever take the photo.

Here are some examples:

If I am shooting a product, I might frame it far more loosly because the art director may want to use the extra space for something.

If I am shooting a model portfolio, I would frame more tightly.

In the old days, before digital, when we used a square format camera, I often framed a bit wide so I could decide whether to make the shot a vertical or horizontal.

With digital, if you frame wide and them crop down, you are effectively reducing the number of pixels, turning a six or eight megapixel camera into maybe a three or even two meg camera...which doesn't make a lot of sense if you can avoid it.

But there is also another consideration; the camera's digital sensor is a specific shape, and sometimes you have no choice but to frame larger because the shape does not correspond with the requirements of the final output.

A final thought, lately I have been cropping down to different size ratios (not 8x10 but, maybe 4x10) after taking the shot because I find that a more interesting and artistically pleasing aspect ratio for the final print. Our eyes see more horizontally than vertically, so I like these wider shots, even though my camera does not shoot it that way.

I suspect this has been absolutely no help at all!

Brutal