The full frame or the crop

[menthel]

Sorry for this, just a question really? Which one do people prefer? The full or the crop? I prefer the crop at present but some advice/discussion/critique would be great.

Full

TP Film meet 2 APX100 thru M6-35.jpg by menthel, on Flickr

Crop

TP Film meet 2 APX100 thru M6-35-2.jpg by menthel, on Flickr

[paulfish4570]

the crop, and i'd crop some asphalt, right up to the bottom of the curb to make her bigger ...

[menthel]

Thanks Paul, will give it a go!

[Nikon Bob]

I would think the crop. I would go further than Paul and suggest cropping down to about the height of the fence. That would even make her loom larger yet and still convey the background with less distraction. That is just me though.

Bob

[robbeiflex]

I prefer the crop in this case, as it cuts out a few needless objects around the periphery that draw my eyes away from the subject.

Cheers,
Rob

[FrankS]

Try a square crop, with the woman on the left third of the frame.

[BobYIL]

Full... it's more "complete".. and there is nothing to bother my eyes in the frame, why crop? Also the poster of the lady there is a complementary element..

[shadowfox]

I have to go against the grain here.
The full frame has more point of interest that is missing in the crop.

I say full frame, print it big and hang it proudly on your wall

[huntjump]

hmmm. I might suggest cropping on the left side just up until the pole is gone. Then crop a bit above down to the top of the board where the warhol-like posters loom (like you did), but leave more on the right side. Or, leave in the pole but try cropping a tad bit of the bottom road to preserve the wide shot. Hard to say, but if its between the two above I liked the full for some reason.

Edit: didnt like the pole at first, but it might be the reason i'm not liking the crop. hah

[Fawley]

Full Frame. For me the woman is not the subject. The street scene is the subject. The woman and the wall are complimentary and you need most of the pavement to balance the wall.

[curmudgeon]

I would not crop it much, if at all. In particular, I would keep the dark post on the left to balance the darkness of the woman's upper garment.

What I would do, however, is apply a horizontal correction* so the curb line and the top of the dark frame are parallel with the edges of the the image. Oblique angles are fine, but this one is close enough to head on that I find the slight angles distracting.

* in the darkroom I would tilt the printing easel. In Lightroom I would use the horizontal correction.

[Jubb Jubb]

another one for full frame.

[Sparrow]

... the crop is the better image. The road markings, kerb-edge and bollard take the eye over to the left and makes a feature of the light L shaped area of sky at the top LH corner ... which is of course distracting from the intended subject ... the crop avoids a lot of the problems, but if I had to use that image I'd probably crop closer and do a bit of work on the contrast too

[Sparrow]

... like this ... I hope you don't mind me messing with it

[menthel]

Thanks all. I ran out of steam last night and so didn't get back to this! I will try various crops as suggested to see which pleases my eye most. I will print out a few as well (inkjet unfortunately) and see what works off the screen as well!

[menthel]

I don't mind at all. Its more striking with the contrast upped but loses some of the subtlety. More food for thought!

Originally Posted by Sparrow

... like this ... I hope you don't mind me messing with it

[menthel]

A few more based on some of the suggestions, I know which one I like most...


Saved Photos-21 by menthel, on Flickr


Saved Photos-22 by menthel, on Flickr


Saved Photos-23 by menthel, on Flickr


Saved Photos-24 by menthel, on Flickr

All prepared in Snapseed on my iPad, a cracking little program!

[menthel]

Here is the final crop I decided on.


TP Film meet 2 APX100 thru M6-35.jpg by menthel, on Flickr

[oftheherd]

I find the full frame more interesting as apparently you mind/eye did when you snapped this. The upper left is a little bright and maybe should be burned in. I like the entire scene. As mentioned above, the subject is the enture street scene. I also believe by going full frame, you reduce the notice of the blur on the woman's face and hand. It's not bad, but the closer you get, the more I find it distracting. I really like including the posters and the art work on the walls. Great stuff.

Just my two cents. It's your photo, do it how you like it best.

[Gabriel M.A.]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

... like this ... I hope you don't mind me messing with it

Yes, that is much much better.

[menthel]

Thanks all. The process itself of getting to the edit was fun in itself and don't worry, the original is not neglected either, I still like that too for its "wholeness".

[kuzano]

The reality for me is that your first crop took out the most distractions in the photo. The patch of sky in the upper corner served no purpose whatsoever, unless you were aiming for distraction in the first place. Second, losing the short post worked a wonder on the left side.

Otherwise there are good arguments for every other crop shown on this thread, EXCEPT any that would affect the posters across above the lady. If I knew they were there and you cropped them the whole image would lose the most impactfull portion shown.

[menthel]

Thanks, the iterative process is rather interesting and fun and is also not one I go through too often.