Choose the shape
This crop can emphasise a ridge, shoreline, or another long subject. It can also remove half of an ordinary 3:2 image, so review the lost content rather than assuming that a panoramic format automatically improves the photograph.
| Property | Example |
|---|---|
| Matching landscape pixels | 6000 × 2000 |
| Example print size | 36 × 12 inches |
| Equivalent portrait ratio | 1:3 |
Fill the frame
A 6000 × 4000 source filling a 30 × 10 inch rectangle retains 6000 × 2000 pixels. Half the original area is cropped, and the effective PPI is 200. The crop can move through the available vertical space while keeping those retained dimensions.
Keep the whole photo
Keeping the same source whole gives a 15 × 10 inch image inside the 30 × 10 frame. That produces 7.5-inch side borders and 400 PPI. Large side borders make the composition difference obvious: the frame and the source have very different shapes.
What the ratio cannot tell you
The crop tool selects an area that already exists in the photo. It does not stitch separate pictures, expand the scene, or recover missing detail. If the desired panorama is not present in the source, a less elongated target may be more suitable.