When I was in school we were still developing film and making prints with an enlarger.
Those were wonderful days and I learned a lot about the art of photography that has been beneficial in the digital age.
Not so much that I would suggest others go back and learn film before venturing into digital photography, but there are times when those around me have a hard time grasping concepts that were made apparent in the days of dark rooms and strong smelling chemicals.
One of the things I find a lot of new photographers struggle with is cropping.
They seem to think there is something sacred about the format their images were created in and are resistant to making any changes.
In one of my first photography classes, the teacher picked up a couple of cropping 'L's', two L shaped pieces of cardboard that you could place on top of a print and move around to show various crops.
He would go through image after image showing how each could have been improved with a bit of cropping.
The astonishing thing was not simply that they improved but how dramatically they improved.
Often someone would put up a print that looked plain and unexciting and the teacher would show how with a quick crop the image would suddenly jump to life.
Soon we all had our own cropping 'L's' and we were using them on all of our images before we turned them in.
However, there was still an important lesson to be learned.
After using the 'L's' for a while, I noticed that when I was taking pictures I would mentally use them in the viewfinder of my camera to see how I would crop the image when I got it back to the lab.
It occurred to me that rather then waiting until then it was possible to crop right in the camera, to move around until most of the superfluous stuff had been eliminated.
After all, this is one of the keys to great photography, to rid the image of everything that isn't absolutely essential.
Yet I never would have learned this lesson if I hadn't first had the practice with hands-on cropping.
These days, cropping is quite easily done with your image manipulation software, so I suggest using this tool a lot until you really master the art of removing the unnecessary.
There is real power in cropping, but it is a skill that takes some practice.
Try cropping in various ways until you find one that really works.
Do worry that a crop won't fit the average frame, you aren't really trying to make average images, are you? Instead, look for the drama and power that can be created with a bit of cropping.
One of the challenges will happen when you find that there are two very different ways to crop an image, both equally compelling in spite of being very different.
What remains will be a question of the feeling or message each image provokes.
You will have reached a high level of your artistic development when you can answer these questions intelligently.
So, whatever you do, ignore the fact that your sensor makes perfect 4:3 or 16:9 images.
That isn't nearly as important as creating beautiful, compelling images that evoke emotions from your viewers.
How much better to create a wide panorama out of a landscape shot if that is what the image calls for.
It's a simple tool, but you will be amazed at the results if you learn to use it effectively.