Cropping is a wonderful way to take an average photo and turn it into something spectacular. In the old days of film photography the photographer had to have a superb eye and the art was in seeing the shot, today that is slightly different. With the invent of digital photography and processing software we all have the opportunity to create photos with meaning and if you take a little bit of time with post production you would be AMAZED at what you can achieve....still art and to some extent still requiring a good eye, just at a different point of the process.
There is of course no replacement for a well composed photograph, but sometimes the superfluous "stuff" can be removed with a good crop. Today very close cropping is in vogue and it is common to see people with the top or side of their heads chopped off and photographs of just a babies hand or foot for example, things that would have been taboo 20 years ago.
Cropping can be used to focus the viewers attention on the subject but badly done it can totally destroy the image, I always try to remember these three tips when cropping:
- Until your "eye is in" use your software and (ctrl z) to try a couple of crops before settling on the final, it doesn't hurt to be ruthless to begin with and then slowly work out. Try to imaging the photograph hanging on the wall in your home and keep going until you have something you love. I recommend cropping in standard photo sizes otherwise you may end up with the perfect photo that you are unable to frame in reality - unless you are scrapping of course and then crop away to any size you like :-)
- Use your imagination sometimes a photograph that has been taken landscape would work better as a portrait crop and visa versa.
- If you are cropping a photo which may result in a person's arm or legs being cut off NEVER crop at the joint of the limb, this is a tip I picked up somewhere along the line and it has definitely changed my photography. For some reason when you crop on the joint it makes the person appear as if they are actually missing part of their limb and the viewers eye will be drawn to this point rather then the subject. But if you crop just above or below the joint this effect is disappears.
There is of course no replacement for a well composed photograph, but sometimes the superfluous "stuff" can be removed with a good crop. Today very close cropping is in vogue and it is common to see people with the top or side of their heads chopped off and photographs of just a babies hand or foot for example, things that would have been taboo 20 years ago.
Cropping can be used to focus the viewers attention on the subject but badly done it can totally destroy the image, I always try to remember these three tips when cropping:
