To Crop, or Not to Crop

It’s always great to see a family again. To watch them grow up. I remember when their little girl had curly blonde hair. Love the modern haircut now, though. That’s the power of photography. Everyday life moves on, and changes are hardly noticeable day to day. But a photograph can transport our memories back in an instant. Anyway, taking a hard turn onto a new topic, cropping.

Going through this gallery, I thought about strengthening the compositions. I used to deliver horizontal and vertical images. I quickly learned that it’s better to shoot horizontally all the time. That way, if a client wants to fit a photo in a verticle frame, that’s still an option. This means, clients, you can get creative with cropping. Here are a few tips to consider.

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds is a classic composition rule. Learn this rule and then notice it everywhere, especially in movies and TV shows.

On the left is the photo in the gallery. The middle photo is divided into thirds. The girl is on one of the imaginary lines. The photo on the right is the final crop. If you compare the image on the left to the image on the right, the image on the right draws the eye in a bit more.

Get Close

Although the full image is nice, the closer crop engages emotions a bit more because you can see their faces better. This final crop is an 8 x 10″ 300 dpi image and is clear enough for a good print. I do deliver very high-resolution images, cropping down to a smaller size shouldn’t be a problem as long as the crop isn’t extreme.

Center and Off Center

The two siblings’ top left image works well because both kids are symmetrical. It’s also fun to show the beautiful background. The portrait on the bottom left crops the boy slightly off-center, drawing the eye into the photo. And the image on the right works well vertically because the subject is vertical.

Of course, the internet is full of content on this topic. I would recommend popping over to Pinterest for more tips and pointers on this subject. Play around with cropping to customize photos even more.