Cropping Advice?

W

wlewisiii

Guest
As a result of the critique threads, I've been working through a bit of my backlog of scans. This one I'd like to hear some thoughts from others. Attached is a silhouette shot of my son checking out the lions at our local zoo. There is way to much dark space on the top and bottom to begin with, so I tried crop one. This gives me a much better feel, but down in the corner is a reflection of Dad & CL that bugs me. To get that out while trying to keep the image balanced, I came up with crop two.

Anyone got preferences amung the three versions? Or suggestions?

Thanks!

William
 

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Now why on earth are the rotated??? Needless to say they don't look like that here...

:bang:

William
 
middle one

middle one

but crop even more off the left, like the rightmost vertical one.

wlewisiii said:
As a result of the critique threads, I've been working through a bit of my backlog of scans. This one I'd like to hear some thoughts from others. Attached is a silhouette shot of my son checking out the lions at our local zoo. There is way to much dark space on the top and bottom to begin with, so I tried crop one. This gives me a much better feel, but down in the corner is a reflection of Dad & CL that bugs me. To get that out while trying to keep the image balanced, I came up with crop two.

Anyone got preferences amung the three versions? Or suggestions?

Thanks!

William
Click to expand...
 
William, I like the third image the best. Because the lion is lying on its side, it is a bit hard to tell what it is until cropped down close. And, as you already noticed, that crop also eliminates distractions such as your reflection. And that tight crop also puts more emphasis on your son versus the lion rather than being a busier scene. And, I tend to prefer tight crops anyway. Hope that helps.

-Randy
 
Depends on what you want the picture to do.
#3 if you want the child and lion.
However, #1 with a little more off the top would be interesting since the pic would include the photographer.

Peter
 
Buy some cropping cards and play around. Or make some out of cardboard.

I prefer the second image from either side. It may have your reflection, but I would not have even pegged that as a reflection of photographer anyway, and you really need that expanse to the right side of the boy - it adds a needed dimension and balance.
 
Hi William,

I like the third the best, but would try to get rid of the remainder of the reflection in PS.

Cheers,

Roland.
 
Frank,

The dark areas are part of the image itself. That's what set me off to trying to find what the best way to "repair" the image would be. So first, crop one. Then crop two. I wasn't satisfied with any of the three versions of the image, so I thought I'd enquire here.

William
 
Right, I get it now, it's a zoo window picture. Have you thought of cropping off the top dark band? It looks weird to my eye to have the top closed in like that when neither side is shown.

You see the danger/problem of photo criticism here? Everyone's eye (vision) is different.
 
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William,

This is how I would crop your photo, for what it is worth.

Wayne
 

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Yep, that's it (for me) Wayne. Get rid of the extra, distill it to its essence, the boy and the lion.
 
Ok, I see the idea now. I was thinking that I needed a bit of the top dark area to show the darkness of the shelter the window was in. Seeing the crop from Wayne shows that feeling was wrong.

That everyone's eyes are different is not always a bad thing :)

William
 
BTW, I want to take the time to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. These kinds of exercises are as useful to me as the Critique threads are. I greatly appreciate the time and different view points.

Thanks!!!

William
 
peterc said:
Here's a quick example of the crop I was thinking of.

Peter
Click to expand...


hmmm...as with any crop theres a seemingly endless number of possibilities, but I like Peter's version here. This is how I saw it, too. I like the extra room; it makes the child look even smaller and vulnerable. But as was stated above it depends on what you want. Nice shot, William.

:)
 
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