Cropping for Effect

Cropping an image can take it from ho hum to “eye catching”. Don’t be afraid to trim the fat to get to the meat of an image.

Here is the same image.  Uncropped, Cropped, Distraction Removed

Uncropped

Uncropped isn’t bad.  Think of an image as a story.   The question is what is the main point of the the story and who is the main character.  Is there a supporting cast and what importance do they play in the story.

I’m choosing the flower in bloom as the main character and the buds yet to open as the support cast.  I want to emphasize them, and not the pots below or on the wall behind.

Cropped for emphasis of main character

Since this story doesn’t move and there is no sound I’m left with a couple things I can do to help tell my story.

Lighting is important, I want the main characters to be lite well and to keep the eye focused on them.

I can darken down the background to help being out the flower and buds.

Remove distractions.  Distractions are the Hecklers in the audience.  You don’t need them diverting attention from the story.

Do you see that heckler in the background.  It is that white line in the big pot right over top the flower.  My eye keeps being drawn to it and away from the main character.  Time to get rid of the heckler.

Remove the Hecklers

I’ve toned down the background lighting and removed the line from the pot.  There is a lot more I could do to this image to enhance the main characters, but this is a short story.

When I crop the image I also make it bigger on screen.  This is one of the advantages of shooting with a high megapixel camera.  You can crop a lot of image away and still have good resolution and size.

I can crop even further and tell yet a more detailed story with my image.

Just the Main Character

More lighting Control for Effect

Singing a Solo

One final thought. The more you contrast the foreground to the background the harder the subject’s surfaces become. Notice the difference in the flower to the background in these final two images. The flower looks more delicate in the first. The second with the background darker, makes the contrast of the color in the flower harder. Again, it depends on the story you are telling.

For my story I want the main character to have that softer side. I would chose the first. But if my story were about the beautiful wicked witch. It would be the harder image at the bottom.

What’s the story you are telling? Crop & Light for effect.

Tags: crop for effect, tell a story