Cropping an image – one quick way to transform an image


The point of the last two posts is that cropping can transform an image. I like all three versions, but which do you prefer?

I like all three in different ways, but I have an emotional attachment to the images having taken them all. So yes I am a bit biased.

The original image was the composition I actually took a photograph of. This is what I saw. This is the scene I photographed. This is what I wanted to capture and convey.

The square crop is interesting. This crop allowed me to exclude some of the trees at the top and some of the ground at the bottom. I did not want to cut off the starburst, and this was the logical square crop.

The landscape format shot is the picture I should have taken. I have just gone back to all the images from that day, and I only actually took one shot!

Usually I would take a variety of pictures of a scene, but must remember being careful with my composition so much so that I only needed the one shot.

Not a bad call to be fair to me.

But I need to remember to take photographs of a great scene in landscape and portrait formats for this very reason.

Now fortunately for me as I take my photographs with a Canon 6D I can crop within an image quite a lot without any noticeable loss of image quality.

There are two points to this post about cropping. And one of them is nothing to do with cropping.

The first is the most important. Think about what you are photographing. What you have included. And think carefully about what you have excluded. Or indeed could include or exclude.

And the possibilities when you get back to your PC.

And then when you are processing an image think about the content of the image. Crop to make the best of the image. Try different crops, portrait, landscape, square and custom. And of course no crop at all. That should be the best shot, and in time will be…..

And you never know what you might end up with.

Rick McEvoy Photography Blog

Thursday 24th November 2016

www.rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk

Rick McEvoy

I am Rick McEvoy, an architectural and construction photographer living and working in the South of England. I create high quality architectural photography and construction photography imagery of the built environment for architects and commercial clients. I do not photograph weddings, families, small people or pets - anything that is alive, moves or might not do as I ask!! I am also the creator of the Photography Explained Podcast, available on all major podcast providers. I have a blog on my website where I write about my work and photography stuff. Rick McEvoy ABIPP, MCIOB

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