Cropping

 

Cropping a photo often leads to finding an improved version within the original. Any photo, even an already good one, is a candidate for cropping. A great image may be contained within a good or average photograph. It pays to experiment with cropping every photo.

To crop a photo is to cut off part of it. A little off the top, bottom, or sides can work wonders. More advanced cropping results in a section of the photo being taken out and used as the final image. It is worthwhile to try various types of cropping on each image.

The basic crop removes the extraneous areas around the edges of the image. Beginners often concentrate on the subject matter without giving enough attention to the background. This may result in areas which don’t need to be there. A common example is too much sky. Removing part of the photo which has nothing objectionable in it can still help a photo’s impact. If an area of the image doesn’t contribute enough to the image, it may not have to be there. This same basic crop can also remove extraneous items that are distractions in the areas near the edges of the image.

The free-form crop allows the photographer to crop to get the best look for the image. Beginning photographers often include too much in an image. Sometimes there are two or three good photos within the original.

It is vital to realize that the crop can be rotated. The rotation solves the crooked horizon problem. Rotation also produces another “look” to the image, as if the camera had been tilted. Sometimes it just simply improves the picture.

Digital images in the computer are easily cropped in most photo editing programs. Nowadays, this is the most popular way of cropping. Easy! Great for experimentation!

Source of information - from articles from the PSA Journal (Photographic Society of America)