Photo Cropping

This is for educational purposes only for Cadillac High School Photo Students. If anyone has a question regarding this section of my website, please contact me.

Cropping Photos as you take images is the easiest way to focus in on the shot you are searching for. Close up shots of objects are much more interesting than shots taken on a wide angle. This is not to say, that wide angle shots of sunsets, pretty girls on the beach, and landscapes are not interesting, however, more dynamic shots can be achieved by getting in close.

After looking through the lens to make sure all distracting elements are eliminated, carefully focusing is your primary concern.

Long depth of field: The f-stop is set to a higher number, thus decreasing the size of the aperture. Much like squinting to see objects in the far distance, the smaller the f-stop, the more in focus objects in the distance, or behind your subject will be.

Short depth of field: The f-stop is set to a lower number, thus increasing the size of the aperture. Much like entering a dark room, you open your eyes wider to allow more light in, in order to see.

To determine shutter speed and aperture, refer to your chart, found in your Photo I handout.

				By moving in closer, the camera only reads the light coming off of the lamppost. In the first shot, there is an overall gray quality to the image because the camera was reading light from the entire scene. In the last shot, the blacks are blacker, and the whites are whiter.
Lamppost is interesting. Nice little caps of snow on top of it, with a beautiful tree behind. Notice how objects in the foreground, middleground (lamppost) and background are in focus. Everything is in focus and takes away from what you had intended the shot to be. The LAMPPOST!	What if we got in closer? Lamppost is too centered on the shot, splitting the overall image in half. The trees and sky are distracting, as they are forming a frame around the lamppost, making is almost disappear in the shot.	Even closer yet? Camera is moved in closer, and also moving the lamppost over to the left in the overall shot, using the rule of thirds. More interesting, but still distracting elements in the background, taking away from the beauty of the focal point, THE LAMPPOST!	And finally, taking the shot up very close, on an angle to show some depth and making sure the words on the light bulb base are perfectly in focus. Objects in background are slightly out of focus, adding to the shot with contrast and texture, but not taking away from the focal point, THE LAMPPOST!

Maple Tree, pretty, snow covering the trunk. Wonder if there's anything more interesting up closer. Tree is exactly in the middle of the shot, again causing perfect symmetry, and not using the rule of thirds. Long depth of field, everything is in focus. (Smaller aperture)	Two dangling leaves, trying to desperately hold on after the first snow of the season. Leaves are exactly in the middle of the shot, again causing perfect symmetry, and not using the rule of thirds. Additionally, the camera is reading all the light coming from the snow, not the leaves, and drowning out the leaves. Long depth of field, everything is in focus, including the broken snow, taking away from the leaves. Distracting elements. Wonder what would happen if I got in closer?	Paying attention to the lines created at the top of the leaves, I cropped the image so the leaves were not in the very center of the shot. I've also cropped out the distracting elements of broken snow, and using a larger aperture, blurred the background, so the focus was on the leaves, creating a shorter depth of field. The lines lead the viewers eyes to the leaves, and then to the snow on the leaf on the left, then using the edge of the leaf, back up to the top of the image, creating a circle, or triangle, forcing the viewer to look at the entire image. Carefully focusing on the texture of the leaves is imperative.

Pine Tree, pretty, snow covering the boughs. Wonder if there's anything more interesting up closer. Tree is exactly in the middle of the shot, again causing perfect symmetry, and not using the rule of thirds. Distracting elements of power lines, and tip of tree is running off the top of the image. Long depth of field, everything is in focus. (Smaller aperture)	Getting in closer, the boughs are still pretty, but not interesting.	Closer still, but too many distracting elements in the field of view.	Getting better, but still distracting elements in the background.	Perfect! Focus is deliberate and exact. Rule of thirds is utilized, and background elements are eliminated. Notice how the background is now dark, and the bough is now lighter. By moving in closer, the camera is reading the light reflecting back from the bough and not the background, creating a perfect shot.
			Always take more than one shot. These three shots show a gradual change, getting in closer and closer. All show a short depth of field (larger aperture) to eliminate distracting elements.
*The following shots were taken from http://www.fotosearch.com and are royalty free.*
			In this image the tree bough is taken with the camera in a vertical position.	In this image the tree bough is taken with the camera in a horizontal position. Consider changing the position of your camera as you are shooting your subject.
Looking at photos taken by other photographers will help you to understand how to crop and use your aperture to it's best advantage.

Practice Makes Perfect

One brilliant photograph is the result of hundreds of boring ones

If you want to become a good musician, you have to practice. If you want to compete in the Olympics, you have to practice. If you want to cook dinner at night in 15 minutes without having to think about it...practice.

Why should taking good photographs be any different? Photography is just like any other skill — while there are individuals who excel at it naturally and have a fantastic eye, most people develop their photographic skill by taking hundreds, even thousands of photographs.

This approach is naturally supported by digital cameras. Since you can fill up a memory card with photos, delete them, then fill up the card again and again, you have the capacity to take thousands of photos without breaking your bank. Since you don't have to pay to print every single photo you take, you have the luxury of taking 10 very similar photos of the exact same thing until one of them looks the way you want it to.

And now we come to the little secret of all professional photographers. If you've ever looked at a book of photographs, or marveled at photos in the museum and wondered just how the photographer captured such an incredible image, this is the answer: they did not do it by taking just one single photograph.

They took hundreds. They took the same shot over and over with minor variations: a little more light. A little less light. A low angle, and a high angle. Vertical and horizontal. You get the idea.

One Shot Wonders

Maybe you've seen this happen. You are standing at one of the great natural monuments: the pyramids of Egypt, the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China. A family arrives. The kids are positioned in front of said monument, one solitary photo is snapped, and the family departs.

Why should they expect this photograph to turn out well? There's no second take. If someone had their eyes closed, their mouth open, or was in the middle of a sneeze, that's it. If the camera overexposed or underexposed the photo, that's it.

The best way to immediately improve the quality of your photographs is to take more than one.

Working a Subject

If you've ever taken a photo class, or read pros talk about their work, you may have heard the expression "working a subject". For those who are unfamiliar with the term, it basically means picking one thing to photograph, and then taking every possible photo that you can imagine.

Start with a normal photograph of the flower. Now intentionally underexpose the image. Intentionally overexpose. Shoot it from the top and the bottom. Get close up and shoot it from far away. Change your aperture. Focus behind it, and focus in front. Photograph the flower in the morning, middle of the day and the evening.

The result of this effort is variety, and a large number of photographs to choose from. Sure, many of the photos are not going to be eye-catching. They are not meant to be, and this is not expected. Even pro photographers take some mediocre photos. They just make sure they don't put them on display.

The Mediocrity Ratio

When you first start out with this approach to photography, a high percentage of your photos are not going to be keepers. Let's say that out of 100 photos, you really wind up liking 5. Your mediocrity ratio is 95%.

But a surprising thing will soon start to happen. The more photos you take, the more you develop your photographic sense. Not only will you become more familiar with your camera and its controls, you'll also learn what you like in your photographs, and how to take more that you will want to keep.

As time goes on, your mediocrity ratio should go down. Eventually, out of 100 photos, you may find that there are 30 that you enjoy and want to keep around. Your ratio is now at 70%.

While you can strive to make every photo you take perfect, this is fairly unusual. Sometimes it is hard to tell what the camera is going to capture, even if you know your camera well. Sometimes a photo you thought would be dull turns out interesting. Sometimes incredible photographic opportunities yield dull photos. There are a lot of variables at work, and you can't be expected to control all of them all the time.

Just remember that with time and repeated photographs, you should see improvement. And if you get that one photograph out of 100,000 that is absolutely brilliant, then it makes it all worthwhile. Practice makes perfect.