Recortar mejora el encuadre.

Because here recortar is being used as the subject of the sentence, meaning cropping or to crop as a general action.

In Spanish, an infinitive can work like an English -ing form or like a noun:

• Fumar es malo. = Smoking is bad.
• Leer ayuda mucho. = Reading helps a lot.
• Recortar mejora el encuadre. = Cropping improves the framing.

So recortar is not the action someone is doing right now; it is the idea of cropping in general.

Because the subject, recortar, is treated as one single action/idea, so it takes a singular verb.

So:

• Recortar = one activity
• mejora = improves (3rd person singular)

This is similar to English:

• Cropping improves the framing.

Not:

• Cropping improve...

Spanish often uses the bare infinitive as a subject without an article.

So Recortar mejora el encuadre is completely natural.

You can sometimes see an article with an infinitive, such as el recortar, but that is less neutral here and often sounds more formal, more abstract, or more marked stylistically. In everyday language, recortar on its own is the normal choice.

In this context, encuadre usually means framing or composition, especially in photography, video, or visual design.

It refers to how the subject is positioned within the image and what is included in the frame.

So Recortar mejora el encuadre means that cropping can improve how the image is framed/composed.

In Spain, encuadre is a very natural word in photography and film contexts.

Spanish often uses the definite article more often than English does.

Here, el encuadre means something like:

• the framing
• the composition
• the overall framing of the image

Even if English might sometimes just say framing without the, Spanish commonly says el encuadre.

So this is normal and idiomatic, not overly specific.

Usually, no, not if you specifically mean crop.

• cortar = to cut
• recortar = to trim, cut down, or crop

In image editing, recortar is the right verb for cropping a photo/image.

So:

• Recortar una foto = to crop a photo

Using cortar here would sound too general or like physically cutting something.

In English, both can help you understand it:

• Cropping improves the framing.
• To crop improves the framing. ← grammatically possible in English, but less natural

The most natural English equivalent is cropping.

So although recortar is literally an infinitive, in meaning it works very much like cropping here.

Yes, that is also possible, but it shifts the structure slightly.

• Recortar mejora el encuadre = Cropping improves the framing
  
  • focuses on the action/process
• El recorte mejora el encuadre = The crop / cropping improves the framing
  
  • uses the noun recorte

Both can work, but recortar sounds like a more general statement about the action itself.

Yes, but not here.

• As a verb, mejora = improves
• As a noun, mejora = improvement

In Recortar mejora el encuadre, it is clearly the verb, because it comes after the subject recortar and links it to el encuadre.

So the structure is:

• Recortar = subject
• mejora = verb
• el encuadre = object

Normally, no.

Recortando is the gerund, meaning cropping in the sense of while cropping or by cropping. Spanish does not usually use the gerund as freely as English uses -ing forms.

So for a general statement like this, Spanish prefers the infinitive:

• Recortar mejora el encuadre.

If you say Recortando..., it usually needs a different kind of structure, for example:

• Recortando, puedes mejorar el encuadre. = By cropping, you can improve the framing.

It sounds like a general statement or advice, not a description of one specific moment.

It means something like:

• Cropping improves framing
• Cropping can improve composition

So this is the kind of sentence you might see in a photography tip, editing guide, or tutorial.