Ford's Photography Classroom Session 1- Cropping Photos

Sometimes being center stage is good, but that is not always the case in photos.

Take this photo for instance,  I love the subject and it is sharp, but with a little better cropping, you get this.

Two things are different here: 1. The subject is not centered, which makes the shot more interesting.  2. There is more directional room in front of the bird,  which visually just feels better because that is the direction he is heading.

This photo is not bad, but with a little cropping you get this.

There is more room in the direction his body is facing and you get closer into him.

I don't mind this photo because it shows the rain coming down on either side of the boat and sometimes you want to tell that story.

However, this composition is more pleasing to me because it draws the eye back and forth and not just in the center.

Compare these last two images. 

There is no space for the frisbee  to go in the top picture. It also feels too tight and your eyes not drawn to the action. The spectators receive the focus.

Bring it back a bit, and the focus is on the action. There is now place for the frisbee to be thrown.
Of course, how you crop is a personal preference. You might hate these suggestions. That's the great thing about  creativity, you get to choose.

Stay tuned, in a future blog I will talk about when center focused photos are a better choice.