This exercise proved far more difficult and time consuming than I imagined. I had difficulty choosing photographs top crop and looking through my images, it became apparent that I mostly take tightly framed photos, even thought I have a 10-20mm wide angle lens.
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| Wells Next The Sea Pre Crop.jpg, 85mm, 1/320, f7.1 |
The first photograph I chose for cropping is of a sunset at Wells-Next-The-Sea in Norfolk. Although the clouds and sky colour are dramatic, I feel that the water is slightly distracting.
For the cropping, I removed areas A and C to include only 3 masts on the boats. This added some balance to the image. Area B was removed as it contained the distracting water, that made the lower portion of the photo appear cold and in contrast with the sunset. Finally area D removed much of the sky, leaving only the most interesting area, emphasising the bright, sunlit edges, of the clouds.
The resultant image is dramatically different to the original, looking more vibrant and has a greater impact with a narrower range of colour. Despite no enhancements being made to the image between original and the cropped version, there appears to be greater contrast in the image.
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| Snowdon Pre Crop.jpg 26mm, f9.0, 1/320 |
The next image was taken on
Yr Wyddfa, more commonly known as Snowdon during a family holiday. As it stands, its an average 'snapshot' with no particular thought given to framing.
Cropping removed large parts of the foreground (A) and the slope (B) top the right of the image. These were not particularly interesting and dominated the image. The path was also eliminated in the foreground, despite leading the eye towards the figures. Finally, some of the sky (C) was removed.
The cropped image is greatly changed. The foreground and rising ground to the right dominated the original, but after cropping the image is transformed to be all about the view into the distance. The figures are clearly taking in the sight before them. There is only the merest hint of mountain behind or to the right now.
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| Duxford Spring Air Show Pre Crop.jpg 270mm, f6.3, 1/2000 |
This photo was taken at an air show at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford in Cambridgeshire and shows some people working on a vintage aeroplane before it's participation in the show. The photo itself is somewhat cluttered, although it clear what is happening. In hindsight, it would probably have been better to bring the view back slightly if the aircraft, etc were to be included to the degree that they were as it doesn't quite work as it stands.
Cropping enabled me to really focus on the people in the photograph. Area A was discarded as it was very 'busy', but did not contain enough of object in that area for the viewer to define what they were, and abstract imaging was not the aim of the image. Area B contained a grey overcast sky that added nothing to the overall image. Removing area C brought the crop tight into the people.
The final image is again quite different to the original and conveys the image that I had originally considered when taking the photograph. I feel that this turns a casual photograph into something that has a more photo journalistic feel to it. The image is now firmly about the people and what they are doing. There are no distractions for the viewer to consider and the story conveyed is now clear.
Although there are only 3 images to show for the time spent on this exercise, it has been time well spent. It will encourage me to think of how different the final image will be when composing a shot if I look at the picture within the picture.
Reviewing this post, I'm quite stunned at how different the cropped images are to the originals.
