Tuesday Tip

Strategic Cropping

We've all seen those pictures that need someone or something cut out, right? Well, although cropping for that reason is certainly beneficial, there are a few other reasons you may want to consider doing a little choppity chop to your pictures ...

• Zoom in, baby! Can't get close enough? Easy fix. Crop your image for a closer shot. Oftentimes, I snap a photo that's further away in order to give me two options- a close up or distant image. Remember that you can always zoom in by cropping the image, but you can never zoom out. Better safe than ... well, you know. Here is an example of an image of Hunter that I cropped for a closer look: 

• Focus on the subject. Occasionally, you may have an image with a lot of surrounding distractions. To hone in on your subject, consider cropping it to eliminate what you don't want in the photograph. Challenge yourself to push your "cropping" limits! Below is an image of Landon getting reading on his wedding day. The original image had a lot going on in the background. To bring the attention on what I wanted to capture from the photo (him buttoning his shirt), I cropped it so that even his eyes wouldn't be a distraction. This is a great way to get a nice detail shot.

• Get artistic. Try cropping your image at an angle. An earlier Tuesday Tip that I posted suggested trying new angles. Well, if you didn't get the angle you wanted while snapping the shot, try cropping it at an angle. When editing a photo, I often see the image in a completely new and different way. Giving yourself the freedom to play around with artistic angles can make editing so much more fun! Here is an engagement photo of Matthew and Hillary that I cropped at an angle, which I think makes the image much more appealing.

Thanks for stopping by, happy shooting... and cropping!  ;)