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Is Cropping Cheating?

Looking west into the reverse curves at Christiana, Pa., I was limited by my 70–200mm lens. As I envisioned the scene, making the most of it would require a longer telephoto.

Lacking the appropriate focal length, I opted to frame the image with the intention of allowing for a very tight crop. As Amtrak Keystone 651 raced through the curves, I made this trailing view showing Siemens ACS-64 electrics at both ends of the consist.

My Nikon Z7 II’s high-resolution sensor (approximately 45 megapixels) allowed me to retain considerable detail and sharpness despite the tight cropping of the original image, which was exposed at a 200mm focal length.

So I ask: is this cheating?

Screen shot of the Adobe Lightroom work window that illustrates the degree of cropping of the original Nikon NEF Raw file.
Cropped version of the full frame image.

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