What is Magnums policy regarding the cropping of photographs?
It is popularly thought that Magnum does not allow any of its photographers’ work to be cropped, but this is not the whole truth. Certainly, Magnum has a strong association with the respect for the photograph as the photographer made it and selected it. Photographs available from Magnum have usually been very carefully edited: the Magnum archive contains images chosen by the photographers in the context of their own integrity and values, and the archive is not a visual resource for picture users’ general chopping and changing. But Magnum represents the copyright holders who are the individual photographers and while many of the photographers do not wish their work to be cropped, others are more flexible. It may depend on the photograph in question. Magnum’s policy is that photographs cannot be cropped (or copied, or reproduced) without prior consent. So in circumstances where someone using photographs wishes to crop them, they should contact their local Magnum office for consent before
