Cropping makes a difference.

Waterfront Park, Kelowna

The above photos all come from the same image (the one on the left).  Each one was cropped according to something that the images provided.  The left represents the full frame as was displayed in my viewfinder.  The middle-top image was cropped to accentuate the colourful flower display.  The far right image follows the rule-of-thirds and leading-the-eye compositional guidelines.  The bottom image captures the long rows of flowers decrease in size relative to distance.  Each shot emphasizes something different.

The point of the blog is to say that you don't have to get the photo exactly right in your viewfinder; you can play with composition after the fact.  This is where cropping comes in, and it allows you to improve, adjust, emphasize, or remove different aspects of the shot for its betterment.  

When shooting, I am always cognisant of capturing the best image I can at the moment but also aware that there will be post-shot enhancements and cropping that will be done later.  It is not unusual for me to take 100 or 200 photos on an outing and then pick a half dozen that I liked in post (in case you haven't heard this term before, "post" refers to work done on the image through a pixel-editing program like Photoshop or Lightroom).  

The nature of those changes to the image really depends on where I see opportunity for improvement.  Standard changes such as sharpening, spot removal, saturation, and filling shadows or toning down highlights are standard.  Cropping is usually a given, but you can crop quite a bit depending on what your overall goal is.  What is the frame ratio?  Will the image be printed or viewed only on a display screen?  Can you accentuate certain aspects of the shot by cropping out bland, distracting, or inappropriate material?  Do you want to use compositional tools to improve the image's overall appeal? 

Cropping an image represents an awesome way to improve a shot and make it what it could be.  Sometimes, you just have to play with it.  It seems that when you take the photo, there is still a lot of work to do.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I found a black widow spider in a plant pot today

Image
The spider I found is a western black widow spider, one of three species of black widow that occur in North America.  The fact that this one has another red patch on the back of its abdomen above the spinnerettes tells us that it is an immature individual. The one thing that people know about black widow spiders is that they are extremely poisonous.  Their venom is something like 15x more toxic than that of a rattlesnake.  The saving grace is that there is very little venom injected from a black widow bite than what a rattlesnake can deliver.   The good news is that black widow bites seldom lead to death.  You are more likely to suffer nausea, muscle pain, and swelling around the bite.  Symptoms usually last only 12 hours or so.  Death may be a result in people with compromised immune systems or in the very young or the elderly.   In 2018, it was reported that there were 1015 cases of people bitten by black widows.  Of those, there ...
Read more

The passing of a generation

Image
Kathryn's mom and dad with our children, Josh and Leanne. A generation, for North America, tends to be between 20 and 30 years.  During that time a couple will give birth and raise children to see them repeat the pattern as they themselves have done.  Each generation has its own set of standards, values, and ideals based upon their experiences and culture, and some of that is passed down to their offspring.  What changes are the life experiences of the following generation and the new customs and ideals that are blended together as a couple becomes a family. Kathryn's mom passed away a few days ago, she was predeceased by her husband several years ago.  Both of them were the grandparents of my children, the mother and father of my wife, Kathryn.  It was my pleasure to know them and to love them as my own, for to me they were Mom and Dad.  And they were there to welcome my children into the world just as my children were with them in spirit when they left it...
Read more

Hang in there, things will get better.

Image
The Svendsen Family - Eric, Samuel, Leanne, Joshua (top row), Nora, Kathryn, Chanelle, Emma If I could go back, in my mind, to a day in my life when I was really down, it would be nice to be able to see into the future.  If could see things as they are today, with the many blessings that have been given to me, it would give me hope knowing that things wouldn't always be so discouraging.   The message here is we do not know what the future holds.  When things are bad, it is hard to raise your head out of the mire to see beyond the darkness.  There are no guarantees, of course, that things will be better, but I think it is true that fortunes ebb and flow as tides do.  The trick is to see beyond the low points and not be too haughty during the high ones.  I know that, at this moment, things are very good.  What the future holds is unknown, but low and high points are likely in the forecast.   This is why taking satisfaction from the moment ...
Read more