2 compositions, 2 different pictures :S

Garbz · Apr 15, 2007

Ok I am having a spot of trouble editing this photo of a bearded dragon.

The original composition (ignore the big leaf almost covering his nose that will be edited regardless) :

Now I have tried to bring out the lizzard somemore by tightening the crop, removing the offending leaf obviously, and also burning the surrounding follage slightly.

Now the problem I am having is that the two compositions look so very different they may as well be different pictures. So the question is, ignoring the cloned out leaf, which is better, the lizard with the tight crop and the burn or the wider angle, or an edit somewhere inbetween?

RedDevilUK · Apr 15, 2007

bottom one looks ok to me...

nice picture

Garbz · Apr 17, 2007

Thanks. The more I look at it the more I like it. The top crop is just a little too wide looking back. Bottom one stays

rmh159 · Apr 17, 2007

Definitely the bottom one. I'd also be curious to see what the pic would look like with the left side cropped off as well maybe to the left side of that tree. It might put the lizard more on a 3rd's line and give it some space in front of his face. Just an idea but it's a good shot.

The_Traveler · Apr 17, 2007

Lizard is in center - a deadly dull place.
There is too much around him and that swamps his profile.
I would crop much tighter and get him off- center.
I selectively sharpened this to highlight the lizrd. Noe, IMO, the OOF leaves give the impression that the viewer is peaking through really close plants at the lizard.

(BTW - I hate 3:2 pictures)

Whoops, sorry.
I posted a rework - which I just removed.
I don't get the rationale in asking for help in cropping but forbidding editing of your pictures.

Garbz · Apr 18, 2007

lol I didn't ask for cropping help, I asked which is better or if they both suck

But I do get your point. Please go ahead and edit this one. I am interested in what you mean, as everytime I have tried to frame him off centre I get lots of emptyness in the picture. I would have framed it to the left furhter but there was a plant in the way.

As a side note I typically go for 3:2 first because I come from a 35mm background, but feel free to change the ratio

LaFoto · Apr 18, 2007

Well, the 350D (for example) produces 3:2 pictures, which I like, and so whenever I crop, I attempt to get that ratio back (so I can show 800x533 pics, like these).
And of the two, the second is definitely better, which is helped by the crop but also tremendously by cloning out that distracting leaf which nearly covered his nose. But if this were mine, also I would try to crop even closer, assuming the sharpness allows for it, which I think it does.

The_Traveler · Apr 18, 2007

Lizard is in center - a deadly dull place.
There is too much around him and that swamps his profile.
I would crop much tighter and get him off- center.
I selectively sharpened this to highlight the lizrd. Now, IMO, the OOF leaves give the impression that the viewer is peaking through really close plants at the lizard and gives it some drama.

(BTW - I hate 3:2 pictures)

Garbz · Apr 19, 2007

Now that IS a different picture. I like it. The sharpening is over the top, but that is a taste thing.

The only thing which bugs me about this edit is that now it looks as though there's just a plant in the way of the picture, and very similar to my other bearded dragon pictures, whereas the other seemed to frame the subject as you were spying on him.

I tried to take a middle point now. Cropped it so as far as possible he is less in the centre, but at the same time I included a bit of the right side to add some framing back to the subject. Also played with the sharpening a bit. What do you all think? Does it add framing or are the new elements simply somewhat of a distraction?