Photo Composition-The Cropping L's in Use

Sunday, March 18, 2012
St.-Patrick's Day Parade in 
Montreal,Quebec,Canada

Photo Composition

The Cropping L's in Use

     Yesterday, I introduced you to the "Cropping L's". They're basically 2 right-angled shapes that look like the letter "L", or a carpenter's square. That's the tool that is 90 degrees and make sure that your cuts are square of 90 degrees when you cut.

 Here's one of my images from yesterday.

It's a nice photo, but it can be improved. 

As I use the Cropping L's, I'll explain the reasons for the improvements. 

 The Cropping L's outside of the image area.

 I've changed the shade of 1 of the cropping L's or croppers in order to show you 

how I move either the black, the grey, or both "croppers".

1. I removed the car

2. I removed the concrete wall at the bottom of the photo.

Both crops focus in tighter (closer)on the people and the bird.

As well, the car is a bit of a distraction.

 1. I removed the 2 men on the left side of the photo

2. I removed 1 of the horizontal bars at the bottom of the photo.

Now the focus is more on the bird, since the men are removed, 

and this cropping will make the bird larger.

 1. I put back the men into the photo.

This allows for a "human element"in the photo.

As well, the photo with the men create's an "imaginary" triangle with the movement of your eyes.

The movement is from the bird, to the top of the small light house, to the 2 men, to the bird.

 1. I cropped the right side so that the bird is not so centred in the photo.

This  is better, since placing an object in the centre of the photo 

(in this case on the lower 1/3 imaginary line), weakens the photo.

 Below are 4 photos that I took yesterday.

The best thing is to always take lots of photos and think about your composition as you shoot.

In this way, you'll have large-sized files, and won't need to worry about having only small images after the cropping.

 Each of the above 4 images can be improved through cropping.

If you've made your croppers, you can use them to improve each image.

It's best to double-click on any image so that it will appear against a black background in a new window.

You can make what is called a "Viewing Frame". 

You take this device on location with you when you are taking photographs. It allows you to frame your photo before you use your camera. It' will train you to think 35mm format when you go on location.

You will need a piece of string that you can add pieces of tape to. You then write on the take pieces that are on the string the different focal lengths.

The closer the frame is to your eye, the wider the angle of view (focal length). The farther away the viewer, the narrower the are of the scene in the frame, hence a longer focal length.

So buy some black board at your local graphic arts or art store, or simply cut out some shapes from a larger corrugated box.

Either way, you'll start to be able to "envision"how your photo will look before you take the photograph!

As always,  thanks for dropping by, and have a great morning, afternoon or evening, wherever you my be.