Chop top of head off

bunny99123 · Aug 12, 2012

Okay,
I have read more times than I can remember to not cut the top off clients heads in cropping or shooting. Well, I have looked through Cosmo and Elle, and they both have a lot of pics of with models with the top portion of their head missing. Also, half of body parts missing and most with the subject in the middle.

Is there a difference between model shooting and regular photography? If the Pros do it then why can't the pre-Pros do it? Just wondering....

Jaemie · Aug 12, 2012

I'm just guessing that this is more of a Marketing vs. Aesthetics issue (no pun intended).

PhotoWrangler · Aug 12, 2012

The only rule in photography, is that there are no rules.

This photographer is famous for chopping heads off, and has made quite a good living off of it.

Portfolio Headshot Photography of Kevyn Major Howard; Kevin Major Howard: agents,duplication, reproduction, commercial audition, comp card, litho, photo business card, portfolio services, demo tapes, southern california photographer

Solarflare · Aug 12, 2012

Many things can work under certain circumstance. In other situations, they look like errors.

If you do a face + upper body portrait, cutting of a bit of the top of the head usually work just fine.

If you do a full body portrait but cut of a bit of the top of the head, that looks like a photographer error.

You also should not cut of the *whole* forehead unless you are really doing a closeup of the face, because that definitely looks awful.
There are other things that can look ugly, such as:

- Shooting from below so you can see up a persons nose
- Cutting of the feet but showing the full legs. This looks like the person is stuck in mud. Best way to cut of the leg is above the knees.
- Same for arms. Dont show full arms but cut off the hands. This just looks wrong.

AaronLLockhart · Aug 12, 2012

To the OP, the only advice people can give you on here is that which will attempt to achieve you aesthetic perfection. In other words, they can only help you achieve a technically correct photography. By definition, clipping your subject is not a good practice. However, that doesn't mean that it's terrible if you intended to do it.

I have said this to many other members on here before, and I will say it again. A technically correct photograph is not always the best photograph. Some of the best photographs I have ever seen have blown highlights, plugged shadows, an uneven histogram, some saturation issue, and so on. The thing that makes or breaks a photograph is the photographers ability to get the viewer emotionally attached to what they are looking at. If you can do that and clip the head from your subject, then you have done your job as a photographer.

Graham.M · Aug 12, 2012

It really depends on the shot. If it's a very close up shot, chopping the top of the head off can add impact. If it's a full-body shot, then don't.

bunny99123 said:
Okay,
I have read more times than I can remember to not cut the top off clients heads in cropping or shooting. Well, I have looked through Cosmo and Elle, and they both have a lot of pics of with models with the top portion of their head missing. Also, half of body parts missing and most with the subject in the middle.

Is there a difference between model shooting and regular photography? If the Pros do it then why can't the pre-Pros do it? Just wondering....

bunny99123 · Aug 12, 2012

Thanks everyone! I read books, articles and read opinions on here, and then I see pics in magazines where the majority of them have all the no no's. I feel that if you are able to bring the personality out in the shot, then that is a good shot.

I feel that is what so confusing to a beginner, they C&C and get good advice on here then open Elle and see what people have commented bad on their photo.

You have re- enforced my opinion a picture is good when the client gets excited when they see it. In Granny's terms, to each it's own

cgipson1 · Aug 12, 2012

bunny99123 said:
Thanks everyone! I read books, articles and read opinions on here, and then I see pics in magazines where the majority of them have all the no no's. I feel that if you are able to bring the personality out in the shot, then that is a good shot.

I feel that is what so confusing to a beginner, they C&C and get good advice on here then open Elle and see what people have commented bad on their photo.

You have re- enforced my opinion a picture is good when the client gets excited when they see it. In Granny's terms, to each it's own

PRO's do it for a reason (or the marketing / graphics design dept does it for a reason!) .. where as most amatuers / noobs do it because they don't know any better! Until you can produce technically correct photos (in all aspects), you definitely don't have the knowledge on how to break the rules / guidelines in acceptable ways. A snapshot with the top of the head cut off, is a far cry from a pro shot of a pro model with pro lighting, pro makeup, and pro reasoning!

The Pros do it for emphasis usually... amateur do it for "OOPS.. I am bad about that!" But I know that won't stop all of the snapshots from being taken, will it? The next time you do that.. give a specific reason WHY you did it, other than "I like it"! Can you?

Derrel · Aug 12, 2012

If you KNOW what you are doing, you can do almost ANYTHING in a photograph, and make it work. If you UNDERSTAND composition, you can achieve success in many ways. If you do not understand composition, or have to look to "rules" to guide your vision or your work, then you're probably not going to be able to pull off offbeat compositions with much frequency or consistency.

There are no hard and fast "rules". There is only successful composition, and less-than-successful composition. A huge number of "photographers" in today's world have never studied composition, or design, but have merely learned how to adjust their cameras and lenses. Learning how to best utilize the compositional space one has can be as inexpensive as a trip to the library to procure a book or two on the visual arts. There is NO need to "go to school to study photography", as one poster here constantly complains...

There is widespread misunderstanding about composition among the majority of beginning photography enthusiasts. Many get very irate when it is pointed out that learning how to set an f/stop and pick a shutter speed means almost nothing WRT to composing well, or even composing "effectively".

fjrabon · Aug 12, 2012

another thing to consider is that a lot of these photos, the photographer didn't cut the head off, the editor did. And like others have said, there are times you can do it, you just have to have a good reason to do it.

Derrel · Aug 12, 2012

MANY photographs have been butchered, for well over 125 years now, in order to fit the available SPACE---in magazines, newspapers, brochures, and on the web, or in photo albums. MANY people today look to the movies, where the screen runs horizontally, as some sort of endorsement for making crappy horizontal shots because movie directors MUST frame EACH AND EVERY second of every movie to play back in a horizontal orientation.

fjrabon · Aug 12, 2012

Derrel said:
MANY photographs have been butchered, for well over 125 years now, in order to fit the available SPACE---in magazines, newspapers, brochures, and on the web, or in photo albums. MANY people today look to the movies, where the screen runs horizontally, as some sort of endorsement for making crappy horizontal shots because movie directors MUST frame EACH AND EVERY second of every movie to play back in a horizontal orientation.

Yep, one of the few freelance things I've had put in a magazine, I was so proud, I took what I thought was a great picture, then it was accepted and I got money for it. It was probably the point where I decided I wanted to do this as my primary source of income.

I get my copy of the magazine, excitedly flip to the page, and it's cropped in such a way that I thought it killed the entire point of the image to begin with, lol.

Montanamyst · Aug 12, 2012

I've been wondering the same thing about when to follow and when not to follow all the rules. Take a look at these olympic portriats taken by Neil Leifer. The are all GREAT, but they have head's chopped as well as other body parts at times. Most of them are landscape oriented as well, which leaves noobs like me totally confused.
Serena Williams - Gold medal tennis player - U.S. Olympic Medalists - Photos - SI Vault

AaronLLockhart · Aug 12, 2012

The easiest way to be able to tell what to clip and what not to, is look at how much of the subject is framed versus clipped. If you take a full body shot of an athlete and then clip the top of his head, that would look absolutely terrible, the same as if you clipped him at his knees.

Let's use an image that I have taken as an example:
View attachment 16609

I have clipped both the top and left side of her head (right side of the picture), but this is probably one of the better photos I have taken, portrait wise.

Because this is a head shot, clipping the areas that I clipped does not matter. Whereas, if this portrait were a full body portrait... it would look awful.

I hope this helps you.

Montanamyst · Aug 12, 2012

AaronLLockhart said:
The easiest way to be able to tell what to clip and what not to, is look at how much of the subject is framed versus clipped. If you take a full body shot of an athlete and then clip the top of his head, that would look absolutely terrible, the same as if you clipped him at his knees.

Yeah, I get the obvious chops that look horrible, but its the gray area where it gets confusing. I like these debates....gives you other people's perspective on the issue