the long and short of it all..

[garjobo123]

What would be the best way of - cropping into an image to retain quality. I have various clips, filmed a little too far away or at least i need to have a couple of different close ups from the same long shot interview.

So, i can 'crop' and adjust frame - but this tends to (a) enlarge/balloon the person - spreading the image and (b) the quality just isnt the same. I'm literally talking about only cropping a shot a small distance..just to vary the interview/s. Long shot to a medium back to long shot scenerio.

[lata]

You say “What would be the best way of - cropping into an image to retain quality”
Now just so I do not get confused can you confirm that you are indeed using an Image clip and not a Video clip.

Either way
“ but this tends to (a) enlarge/balloon the person - spreading the image”
Do you mean the frame is distorted, horizontally would make people put on a pound or two.
Tell us how you are trying to crop the frame.


Cropping any frame will reduce the quality of that frame whether Video or Image
For an image we can use an Image Editor to create a better quality image
Using Video It depends on your settings, the video properties, the project properties and the amount of cropping you are applying.

You give no details of your properties, can you provide more details.
I assume the frame is widescreen 16:9 and not a Phone video in portrait.

I would try Customise Motion aka Advanced Motion to enlarge/position the frame.
FX Cropping tool can also be used although my preferred tool is Customise Motion.