TAOP Exercise: Cropping

To me, cropping is almost an art in itself. A good crop can make a great photograph, a bad crop, well of course the opposite. It would be great to frame every shot perfectly in camera but this isn't always so easy and also often we see more when we view the print in a different light on a different day. Seeing a picture, within a picture is something I find very enjoyable, quite exciting even, its like finding a gem in the rocks. So often I see in my own work, I have given too much space around the true picture within the photograph and the need to reduce my cropping in post is something I am aware of and work on.

Here are 3 good examples of where I have not framed the shot in the best way and my resulting cropping to achieve what I feel is a more interesting picture.





Dorset Jurassic Coast 2011. Often we go wide to create the sense of space, but in this shot above there was too much space. All that 'spare' sky doesn't add too the composition so to drop it out not only improves the image but also keeps emphasis on the interesting parts of the composition. The curve of the shoreline and the people upon it, note how the shadows of those walking on the beach indicate their direction of travel too. (you may have to click on the image to enlarge it)





Charmouth Beach 2011. Lovely scene which I will use again in this log. Again I have allowed to much of 'dead' area into my original composition. It is clear the interest here is not the 3 small events occurring within the scene but the 3 men with a boat and how they relate to the rest so lets bring more focus of the viewer to these areas by removing the dead space.





Brecon Beacons 2010. Again too match dead space, the low cloud cover gives us nothing and so its removed and attention is brought to the beautiful Autumn colours of the treelike selected in the lake.