by Kevin Heslin
Cropping your subject correctly is an important aspect of taking a great portrait. There are different standard portrait lengths: full body, the face and upper part of the body, close up of the face, etc. How do we decide what to leave in frame and what to crop out? I am going to talk about different ways to crop a portrait to make the finished image look more professional, and more pleasing to the eye.
There are two different ways to properly crop an image: in camera, and in post-production. The first method, cropping in camera is the best way of cropping. By cropping in camera you get the full resolution of your camera in your final images. Cropping in camera means that you carefully frame your subjects as you shoot your images, and decide what is in frame and what is out of frame. When you take a picture of a person's face, just the face is in frame, not the whole body to be cropped out later. By doing this, the final image will have the full resolution that your camera has recorded.
Unfortunately, sometimes this isn't possible, and that is why we also have the second method of cropping, cropping during postproduction. Sometimes you may find yourself, shooting pictures of a very fast event at a wedding; things may be happening so quickly that you don't have the time to properly compose the image.
People showing off their dance moves at the reception, or the female guests knocking each other over trying to catch the bouquet, or the men bumping each other reaching for the garter are all examples of very fast action where you may not have time to crop in camera. This is alright though. Focus on trying to capture the action as best you can with the knowledge that you will later be able to crop these images on the computer. As you know some resolution will be lost but better that than missing the moment during a fast action sequence.
Now that we have gone over the two different ways to crop a photo we can now move on to how to crop correctly. What do you decide to leave in frame, and what do we crop out of the image? It's easiest to begin with where we shouldn't crop. You should never try to crop a subject at the articulations, that is, the joints, ankles, knees, or waist.
Many are well aware of the full length shot where the subject's entire body is in frame, with a little space left below the feet and above the top of the head. Another type of portrait is the 3/4 length portrait. To compose this portrait have the top of the subject's thigh as the bottom edge, and a bit of space above the head as the top of the image.
Following this is the portrait referred to as the head and shoulder length. This portrait will consist of the bottom edge being the upper chest of the subject, and again the upper edge will be a bit of space above the subject's head.
The last type of portrait is also the most complicated, the close up of the face. As you may have seen in countless fashion magazines or photos online, these portraits for the most part tend to be more artistic. Because of this there are no hard and strict rules for cropping. My advice to you is to study the genre of facial close ups and choose a style of cropping that best suits your photography, and then expand from there.
I hope these tools will give you a better idea of how to crop your subjects at your next event. Best of luck!
Kevin Heslin is one of the best known Wedding and Commercial Photographers in Costa Rica. Besides commercial and wedding photography, Kevin also specializes in Travel and Cultural Portraits. To see more photo tips click on his blog <a href="http://blog.kevinheslinphoto.com/">Costa Rica Photographer</a> Or to see photos of his weddings in Costa Rica, or travel and cultural photography in Central America check out his website <a href="http://www.kevinheslinphoto.com">Costa Rica Photography</a>. This article, <a href="http://www.uberarticles.com/home.php?id=820724&p=46821">How to Choose Where to Crop Your Photos - Wedding Photography Techniques for Newbies</a> is available for free reprint.
---------------------------------------------------
You are receiving this because you signed up for it on 2011-03-05 from IP 125.163.102.174
To fine-tune your selection of which articles to receive, just login here:
http://www.uniquearticlewizard.com/bloggers/
using your username:
To unsubscribe please use the following link:
http://www.uniquearticlewizard.com/unsubscribe.php?mail=elcahya2.auto7@blogger.com&code=de8b6dfd0074007349ef5d71ef8d1fae
---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
New Unique Article!
Title: How to Choose Where to Crop Your Photos - Wedding Photography Techniques for Newbies
Author: Kevin Heslin
Email: info@kevinheslinphoto.com
Keywords: photography,tips,techniques,wedding,composition,cropping,crop,advice,art,composition,digital,camera,digital camera
Word Count: 621
Category: Photography
---------------------------------
{ 0 komentar... read them below or add one }
Posting Komentar