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Monday, April 9, 2012

Cropping Close to Improve Photographic Composition

Cropping Close
By Guest Author & Photographer Adrienne Brand 

Did you have a chance to meet Adrienne Brand last week?
If not, check out her interview here.

One of the easiest ways to improve photos is to crop closer 
to your subject in order to improve the composition. 
Cropping may be done in order to remove unwanted or distracting items from your image. 

This can either be done while you're taking the photo, 
or after the photo has been taken. 
Ask yourself a few questions while shooting:

1.) Can I move closer to the subject so that unwanted items "fall out" of the image area?
2.) Will moving closer and cropping out items change the feeling of my shot? 
Will it make it better or worse?
3.) If I can't move closer to the subject, do I have a lens or camera that will allow me to zoom in?



I'm a fan of close-up photography, so in my general opinion, 
moving closer or zooming in with a telephoto lens usually improves my shot.

For example, review this image of my niece at her communion: 



While the original image is workable, 
is it really necessary to have her friend in the shot? 
Is it adding or distracting from my niece? 
And so taking those questions into account, I cropped-out her friend. 


The resulting
image is a bit more powerful because the focus is solely on my niece.



Using an image of your own, crop-out any distracting elements from the
image and share them beginning next week!  

*Your image can be cropped in camera of in post, either is acceptable for our contest. 

You can catch up with Adrienne on...