Cropping Question (Page 2): Yes the boy alone is interesting but you have removed the reason he is looking. If the reason he is looking is important.. Not that thirds is always...

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

infocus wrote:

Personally I think the boy is the point of interest. He has a cheeky little smile that is adorable. Hope you don't mind but you asked what we thought - this is what I think.

Yes the boy alone is interesting but you have removed the reason he is looking. If the reason he is looking is important..

Not that thirds is always appropriate but in this case a little slice off the left leaving where is looking the larger area, a more compelling image.

(Download)

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

davefales wrote:

I offer this composition for comments. There are so many variables to the best way to crop this one (Rule of Thirds, Rule of Space, general impact at first view).

This is No. 4 grandson. I used Topaz Simplify lightly.

What do you think about the cropping? I have a fair amount of image space outside of the crop. Thanks in advance.

I think you've done a nice job with the one you posted.
He's a fine looking young man, nice photo, nice crop. I like it just the way it is.

ikaush Loc: Medford, MA

davefales wrote:

I offer this composition for comments. There are so many variables to the best way to crop this one (Rule of Thirds, Rule of Space, general impact at first view).

This is No. 4 grandson. I used Topaz Simplify lightly.

What do you think about the cropping? I have a fair amount of image space outside of the crop. Thanks in advance.

The image is intriguing. There would be much more suggestions if you posted the un-cropped version.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

rehess wrote:

This may just be me, but I find the pale triangle in the upper right to be distracting. Cropping farther to the right would "fix" that "problem" also.

It is very easy to cover that up in PSE:
Using the polygonal lasso, draw a line parallel to but not touching the yellow area. Start at the RH edge of the image, continue across the top to the left and stop short of the gray pole, then continue approximately parallel to the yellow area to the RH edge, then up to where you started and click to connect the ends.
Select the Move tool (+sign with arrow), press Ctrl + C, immediately followed by Ctrl + V, then drag your selection over the yellow area and drop it in place.
It will only cover part of the yellow, so press Ctrl + V again, and drag the second piece into that area as well.
As you do that, PSE well make a layer - you may have to drag the top layer to the middle position to have the pieces correctly overlap.
Phew - this took about ten times as long to explain, as it did to do it ;-))

While your in edit mode anyway, I think I would also rotate the image enough to make the pole stand upright.

CHASEPLACEMAIL Loc: Ct,Fla

davefales wrote:

I offer this composition for comments. There are so many variables to the best way to crop this one (Rule of Thirds, Rule of Space, general impact at first view).

This is No. 4 grandson. I used Topaz Simplify lightly.

What do you think about the cropping? I have a fair amount of image space outside of the crop. Thanks in advance.

Aside from cropping you might consider selecting the boy and the metal bars in PS, inverting the selection and defocusing the result to eliminate a distracting background.

OviedoPhotos

The crop in the 1st photo is nice, the photo shows he is thinking ahead.

If ever the occasion occurs again, get down a little lower to show more of the eyes.

Meives Loc: FORT LAUDERDALE

davefales wrote:

I offer this composition for comments. There are so many variables to the best way to crop this one (Rule of Thirds, Rule of Space, general impact at first view).

This is No. 4 grandson. I used Topaz Simplify lightly.

What do you think about the cropping? I have a fair amount of image space outside of the crop. Thanks in advance.

I would use a verticle 4 x 6 so that the boy is to the far left and I would use the clone to coppy the rocks into the top right corner which is distracting. It's a wonderful portrait no matter what you do. David

gemlenz Loc: Gilbert Arizona

I may depend on what aspect ratio you want to use for printing.

davefales wrote:

I offer this composition for comments. There are so many variables to the best way to crop this one (Rule of Thirds, Rule of Space, general impact at first view).

This is No. 4 grandson. I used Topaz Simplify lightly.

What do you think about the cropping? I have a fair amount of image space outside of the crop. Thanks in advance.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

How's this look? I just used the polygonal lasso> selected a small area from the left of the triangle> layer > new > layer via copy> move ,and then moved it into place. Voila.

Very simple to do
Very simple to do...

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

Howard5252 wrote:

How's this look? I just used the polygonal lasso> selected a small area from the left of the triangle> layer > new > layer via copy> move ,and then moved it into place. Voila.

Quite like I explained above ;^)
Well done!

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Morning Star wrote:

Quite like I explained above ;^)
Well done!

You two will have to help me, all I did was a trivial crop to get what you guys did in 12 steps. What did I miss?

Violameister Loc: michigan

I like the crop pretty much as it is. The boy is probably looking at something too far away to include in the picture, or he may even be imagining there is something like a pirate ship on the horizon.

The details like the triangle or non vertical pole should be dealt with, but this is easy in PS. I am conflicted if I would like it better with a blurred background. If the story behind the picture is "pirate ship" then blur may well support that better.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

Sorry, didn't recognize the short-cuts. I also should have added ... as you make the selection, use short jagged lines, this will further hide the blending.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

pithydoug wrote:

You two will have to help me, all I did was a trivial crop to get what you guys did in 12 steps. What did I miss?

Doug, what Howard and I did, was not the cropping, but filling in the yellow area in the top right corner, with the "rocks" from the background.
If you cannot follow what I wrote up, let me know, and I'll try and go into more detail, even include some screenshots.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

Morning Star used short-cut keys, I wrote it out. The idea is to select an area of rocks , make a separate layer of the selection, then move the selection over the area you want to hide. MS's instructions are correct but use mine because you will actually see the selections as you follow the instructions. 1- Select the Polygonal tool 2- Use it to select some rocks (I don't care from where) if you select from the wrong area, you will see the error when they won't blend in after the last step. That is called learning. 3- Layer tab 4- New> 5- Layer via copy. This will put your rock selection onto its own layer. 4- Select Move Tool 5- Drag your selection over the area you want to hide. If you don't SEE your selection, check "Show bounding box" (at top left). Good luck. Practice, it really is easy. DON'T FORGET TO MAKE A COPY BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING, That's CTRL + J