photo crop advice

[Kathleen]

I understand that proper cropping can give a photo jump off the page look, or lost subject look. Something I'm just learning. I have a photo that I'd like to see cropped so I know what to look for, what to omit, and possibly why.

 

[Big Mike]

I tried a few different crops...some look better, some not so much. With this shot, the subject is pretty much in the middle, which usually doesn't make for an attractive compositions (see Rule of Thirds). Also, the horizon is in the middle, which also doesn't usually make for a great composition. In this case, the sky is plain and so is the water...so it's hard to decide which should be cropped more, the sky or the water. I'm temped to crop just above the building and leave plenty of water.

 

[tr0gd0o0r]

I also played with this a little bit and I found two crops that I liked. The one I like more and would go with crops just left of the building and goes the the right edge of the frame. It leaves very little sky and water. This brings the focus onto the building, but leaves enough negative space on the right to leave the photo in balance. The second is little strange, I turned it into a vertical shot with just the building. While there is a lot of sky and water, I liked how they played off each other in that crop.

 

[Kathleen]

I looked at the photo again and could see the problem that you spoke of with regards to the terminal being in the middle. So I went through my shots and found what I hope is a better shot as far as placement is concerned. I focused on what you said thirds (if I understood it correctly) and came up with following cropped. Am I moving in the right direction or would photo look best in another way? Here is a before & after. I also straightened the image.

 

[Funky]

I would try cutting a little off the sky and a little off the water in your first image, the main reason is that the sky and water are wasted space that nakes it seemingly boring.

 

[Kathleen]

A quick question a little off of my topic. I've seen other posts like it. How can I add a full size photo to my post instead of a thumbnail? I've searched for an answer in the forums but just can't seem to find any info.

 

[gmarquez]

"Am I moving in the right direction"

Try this...glance at each of your crops...if you 'intuitively' like one better, that's the direction you should probably take. I like your last crop more than the first original...seems to have at least a little sense of drama by having the terminal building *not* be smack dab in the middle.

However, these need to look 'better' for *you* as well, Kath, otherwise it's no good. Don't let anyone (yourself included) bully you into doing things "right" if it ruins the picture for *you*. Which one do *you* like?

 

[The_Traveler]

A quick question a little off of my topic. I've seen other posts like it. How can I add a full size photo to my post instead of a thumbnail? I've searched for an answer in the forums but just can't seem to find any info.

Host the photo on a site like imageshack. WHen you upload your picture there, they will provide a bunch of code to link, copy the code for direct linking.

Then write your post, click the little picture icon (second from right) and when the popup box appears, paste the direct link code into that.

voila!