Cropping is cutting away, or removing, unwanted outer parts of an image. The process can be used to improve the composition of an image, remove distracting elements, change aspect ratio, et cetera. The aim of the exercise was to select and print three images, then crop them using editing software and print the images again. Then show the crops with a brief note describing why we chose this crop.
Please note that in the images below, the first image will be the original, and any subsequent images will be crops
In the original image below the portrait composition was completely wrong for the image. The motion of the strong man in is horizontal from right to left and I have no idea why I captured the image this way.
In the crop below we get more of this sense of the event as the action is in line with the landscape composition of the picture. The competitors efforts to pull the truck seem to have more of a sense of motion when cropped in this fashion.
In this image there is too much empty space above the model’s head, and at the bottom of the photograph the sweatshirt is baggy and quite unsightly.
In the crop the aspect ratio has been changed fron 8x12 to 8x10, and in doing so it has given the picture slightly more balance whilst eradicating the bottom half of the problem sweatshirt. The model takes up more of the image giving her more presence.
In the original image below I this was too far away from the chimp in the middle of the photograph to compose exactly how I wanted to. I therefore shot at the maximum zoom available to me and decided to crop the image in post processing. As it turns out I was glad I had the wider image to play around with the crop
This first crop is how I would have composed the full rule if I would have been able to zoom tightly enough. I do believe that this crop is definitely better th this an the original image but the balance of the photograph is in quite right. The larger chimp to the right-hand side’s throws the photograph somewhat offkilter.
I decided to play a little more with the cropping tool in lightroom and came up with the composition below. The chimp is now clearly the subject of the photograph and has more impact as a solitary form being frame by his enclosure. Although he is off centre he is nicely balanced by the buyers of the enclosure to the left-hand side. This is a much more pleasing crop (and image) than the first two pictures. The point to take away from this example is that it is worth playing around with different crops of an image to get the best result possible.
The image below is a bit of a disaster. It is badly composed with a tilting horizon and a very boring foreground.
With the editing software available today not only can we crop parts of the image away, but we can also adjust the alignment of the photo to straighten out sliding horizon’s as can be seen in the crop below. Although it is still not a brilliant image, there is much less tension in viewing the photograph and by removing the bottom half of the image we have given it a panoramic feel.
In the next photograph I was lying on the ground waiting for the cyclist to go by and pop a wheelie. This was all happening relatively quickly, so it is hardly surprising that the composition was a little off.
By cropping the photograph to fill the frame with the cyclist the photograph achieves more of a sense of movement and dynamism. The cyclist is almost on top of the viewer giving a more immersive quality to the shot.
Anyone who has tried the photograph dogs knows that the vast majority of them do not like to set up a photograph taken especially when they are young pups like the dog on the left. This was another example of quickly trying to get the shot and deciding to tidy up the composition in post processing.
In the crop below we have centred the dogs in the image and cut away a little bit more of the outer image to lie the subjects to take up frame.
Cropping doesn’t always have to be rectangular or even regular in form. For example the artist Robert Heinecken used crops of pictures to produce puzzle images or colleges in his work.