Post-Processing Crops

[Spartacus989]

I took this photo earlier today of my niece, originally cropping it to the first example, but later deciding to close in much further. The photo, I feel, is much more effective pulled in tight.

Crop #1


Crop #2


With the virtually endless re-framing possibilities of digital photography, what do you think are the best rules or techniques for cropping photos in Photoshop (or your editor of choice, of course )

[imported_JeromeL]

i dunno about this crop, because the facial expression has a lot to do with her hands. but a simple procedure i follow when cropping is to first get rid of all the "extra" (negative) space, that distracts. remove any distracting elements and then look for fine tuned ways to crop it. hope this helps!

[Snarfy]

Well, there are the basics, the rules, and then the means of breaking said rules. Rule of thirds, avoid using squares, crop towards faces; all that stuff is good but it's all about the design of the photograph.

[Spartacus989]

Originally Posted by Snarfy

Well, there are the basics, the rules, and then the means of breaking said rules. Rule of thirds, avoid using squares, crop towards faces; all that stuff is good but it's all about the design of the photograph.

Cryptic...noncommittal...not untrue...but what rules (or counter-rules) do you edit by? Do you have any norms you tend to return to every time you start chopping up your photos? (Other than thirds, etc.)

[YosemiteJunkie]

I think your second crop is great. I try to shoot by the rule of "Less is More" most of the time and in my processing sometimes end up cropping even more. Other than a bit dark I think yours worked out well.

[littlegett]

What do you want the image to day? Thats how you want to crop it. Looking at the first image, you see her looking at her hands... Concentrating. Now you look at the tighter crop and she looks sad, higher emotional value. Both images convey different feelings... and so, your crop, it in its self has dictated the persieved emotion.

So, when cropping what do you do? You Crop to the strongest point of what you want the viewer to get from the image.

[chrisfotos]

when cropping, i usually keep the aspect ratio the same unless im cropping for a panoramic look.

[Spartacus989]

Originally Posted by littlegett

What do you want the image to day? Thats how you want to crop it. Looking at the first image, you see her looking at her hands... Concentrating. Now you look at the tighter crop and she looks sad, higher emotional value. Both images convey different feelings... and so, your crop, it in its self has dictated the persieved emotion.

So, when cropping what do you do? You Crop to the strongest point of what you want the viewer to get from the image.

I totally agree with you on this. The loss of context on the close crop really leaves the emotion to the interpretation of the viewer, ranging from sadness to peace; conversely, the first crop only leaves the viewer with a few emotions to select from, perhaps pensive or focused. The more I look at these, the more I feel an attachment to the first photo because it seems to capture the moment more accurately.

Chrisfotos: on a different note, why would you be attached to the aspect ratio of the original image? I tend to see many different possible framings in any photo, whether that means zooming to a portion of the image or just removing space from the sides to re-center the focus. Thoughts?

[PXLpainter]

Actually - I'm drawn to what she's doing in her hands in the first photo...

Is she Pulling the legs off a grasshopper? Doing a science experiment? Lighting a firecracker (or is that a crack pipe?)?

Her face looks more intent on what she's doing than fear or disgust, so I'm probably wrong on all counts! :D

[apple crisp]

They are both nice crops, and I personally prefer the first as it tells more of the story, in this case, what is going on here is so a part of her expression. I'd keep the story. BUT I think I would give her the closeup too, as it is so nice. :)

For me, no rules on cropping, it's something I see, feel, sense. Balance, direction, energy flow, pop, drama. And sometimes there are the small supplementary elements that add so much to the primary image and so are usually kept - sometimes it takes some careful looking and a few tries to get it right.