To Crop or Not to Crop

...that is the question.  When in doubt, probably best to stick with the original since that, at least in theory, was meant to be the photograph. Now, there will be times that even in our pre-visualization, we knew that we would need to crop the image due to the limitations of our camera/lens. But usually not. Still, when we get home and see the image on the screen, we realize that there are several potential "final" images (see my August 1, 2013 post for examples).

Sometimes its just not clear what is the "best" image size.  Here's my example from the 2010 NW Folklife Festival. The first is the uncropped version (I did change the original from full color to a "toned" photo to emphasize the mood that I felt). This one has a lot of white space, though with the rays of color emanating from the woman, it does add a overall degree of mystery and further emphasizes the woman.

 

The second is the cropped version, focusing in on the two figures, which emphasizes the coming and going of the two dancers. While the woman is still the main subject, due to her facing the camera and the modest color tone of her dress, there is a more equal weight between the two individuals.

 I like both images for very different reasons, for they really become two different concepts, with different emphasis, and there is nothing wrong with that. Just know WHY there are different ways of viewing the original image.

Three For One

I've been examining photographs that I originally shot in 2007 for a potential new photo book.  One of the many photographs that caught my eye years ago was, nonetheless, not quite "right" to my eye. I loved the motion of the Asian dancers but the considerable blank space in the middle was a bit discomforting. Still, I liked it but never did anything with it, like print or share.

Then came this evening. I reexamined the photo some seven years after its initial creation (that IS what photographers do, by the way - create!) to see what I could do.  And, not fearing to crop, I saw that the original actually contained within it two singular photos - the dancers on the right and the dance on the left. I love the cacaphany of colors in the right hand figures, and the barely visible yet recognizable face of the main dancer. Did a little bit of exposure compensation to bring out the colors a bit more, but otherwise as shot.
 

 

 

I then focused on the figure on the left and while an equally colorful subject, I did some experimentation and ended up with another point of view - that of emphasizing the motion, deemphasizing the color, and making it more ethereal. 

So, with one click of the shutter, three photographs emerged.  Would it have been better to have taken three separate photos - one of the groups (as shot), one of the dancers on the right, one of the dancer on the left? Oh, ideally, especially if one wants to do large scale enlargements.  But during a performance, there's not always time (actually, rarely the time) to set up images in advance. Work with what you have.

Dreamstate

As you may have gathering from some past posts, I strive to show emotion via motion from time to time. One of my favorite venues is the Northwest Folklife Festival held at Seattle Center each Memorial Day Weekend. In reviewing photos taken during past festivals, I came across the one below which I hadn't examined for sometime. It was taken with my Nikon D300, with a slow shutter speed (1/10 second) to start showing motion, and then a quick zoom of the lens. The woman is a fairly sharp focus, certainly relative to the rest of the photo. The dancers around her are in motion and the large area of darker tones makes her standout even more. A dreamy image. And a bit of serendipity - you need to be prepared to take lots of such photos, experimenting with shutter speed and zoom techniques, and seeing what happens. And occasionally, you hit it right on.

Distinctive Portfolio

A distinctive photographic vision is the key to success in photography.  The works of Ansel Adams, for instance, are readily obvious, even though the photographs were, for the most part, taken in places where countless thousands of other photographers have also practiced their craft.

Lois Greenfield also has such a distinctive vision.   One of her specialties is dance, a subject that vacation and travel photographers run into from time to time at a festival or street fair. Many are in sharp focus, while others use motion to convey action - one of my personal favorite techniques. Her photography of Sham Mosher, the 1st one in her "Airborne" portfolio, is one of my favorites.  And her entire portfolio is worth a gander for multiple examples of shape and design as key factors in dance and motion photography.  http://www.loisgreenfield.com/galleries/airborne/index.html

Editing Your Photos

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Northwest Folklife Festival, primarily eating, hanging out with a friend, and taking photos at the Tango event in Center House - one of my favorite photo opps of the year.  This morning was spent editing the 380 photosraphs.  I picked up a great editing system from fellow photographers at a recent workshop in Cusco, Peru.  Using Adobe Lightroom's (which is my software of choice in editing and post-processing) starring system, I did an initial edit of shots that showed "some promise."  In this case, I ended up with 146 "**" photos. 

The next round was a more critical examination of the shots and weeding through some near duplicates, ending up with 85 "***" photos.  Still way too many for most purposes, but I was clearly getting down to the better shots.  Now I paid a lot of attention to the edges of the photos and other "extraneous" elements that detract from the subject of the photo.  This edit brought the working total down to 29 "****" images.  These are likely the ones that, over time, I will make color, saturation, and other minor adjustments (even some cropping as needed). 

But there's still one more edit to go - those "best of the best" shots.  Here I did side-by-side comparisons in Lightroom's "Library" mode to narrow the field.  I finally settled on 7 photos, or about 2% of the original photos, for the "*****" rating.  These are the shots I'll start with and will likely print several of these for upcoming exhibitions.  All of this took about an hour and was relatively easy and painless - probably equally divided time-wise since its clearly harder as it goes. Photoshop and other software programs offer similar ways of quickly going through and editing photos in a series of iterations.  Highly recommended! 

By the way, the above photo is one of the "7."  I selected it because its shows both motion and emotion.  (And it's hard to go too wrong with a touch or two of red!)