Wow…give me several days of isolation during report card
season and THAT is when I get inspired to write a little tutorial. It has been
on my mind for awhile since I have learned so much from other bloggers and want
to “give back” so here we are. Our topic today is cropping and how it can
change the entire feel of your photos.
Of course, it is ultimately best to compose your shot just
as you want it in camera. Sometimes, I get a shot that I wanted and intended to
get but I still play around with cropping to change the purpose or just see
what the possibilities are. Cropping can change what the viewer focuses on in
your photos.
Here is an example of a photo I took today outside. (***The
truth is, I was trying to get my dog to do his business outside but it is a
sheet of ice out there and he didn’t want to get on that scary stuff. I don’t
totally blame him. While out there trying to coax him onto that slippery
surface and getting him relaxed/comfortable enough to relieve himself, I noticed
the craziness that Mother Nature offered up today. Wow. All that snow that was
on everything melted just enough to be “not snow” and then freeze up right away
before it all dripped or flowed off. The result was Icicle fever!!! So there
were shapes and cool effects everywhere.) I began snapping away…
Original photo-it
is of that tree in front of my house that I love-I may have to make a collage
of this tree during the different seasons and stages.
I just love that reddish color of the bare branches and how
it contrasts with the color and texture of the ice. I wanted to get the
branches “reaching” and I wanted enough context to see the scale of the tree. I
also had to think about what was in the background. No offense to my neighbors,
but their power meter and hose reel do not add beauty to my composition! I
accounted for the fact that I couldn’t control those things so set the
aperature to 7 (low for the lens I was using…)in hopes of getting enough focus
on that coolness in the tree and then blur out the background a bit.
Crop ONE: I wanted to minimize the distractions, still
include some of the red of the branches and include the ends of the ice covered
branches but reduce the number of the branches so that the focus was more on
that icy beauty.
Crop TWO: I wanted to zoom in a bit and see what it would
look like with that one “clump” as the main focus. It wasn’t as in focus as I
would have liked. I started to move the photo around the crop box to see how
different compositions looked.
Crop THREE: In looking at this photo so much, I began to see
ice animals crawling on the branches-take a moment to see that-really…do you
see? I saw that one branch (you know,
the one that looks like a dinosaur going “rawr”) was more in focus and included
the red that I originally wanted.
I did some brightening to enhance the iciness and the
branches and am pleased with the result: red branches, good composition, focus
on the ice, minimal distraction in the background but I cannot shake that dino
face-can you?
How much cropping do you do?
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