[Basset]

Can't decide whether / how to crop.

Open to suggestions, with explanation. I haven't made much of a study of cropping, so don't worry about being too basic in the explanation.

I am sure I will learn something, and offer my thanks in advance.

Attached Images

 

[SpecialK]

Normally cropping is done to make a stronger image. However, I think cropping off the peripheral elements such as the signboard in the lower corner, or the truck slogan would weaken it. The woman herself is not that engaging of a subject on her own, so my first inclination of a vertical crop probably would not work.

[Basset]

Normally cropping is done to make a stronger image. However, I think cropping off the peripheral elements such as the signboard in the lower corner, or the truck slogan would weaken it. The woman herself is not that engaging of a subject on her own, so my first inclination of a vertical crop probably would not work.

To me, her facial expression makes a cute (albeit, coincidental) reaction to the sign next to her. (e.g., Who's been serving since 1940?)

Otherwise, the pic does not hold much interest for me.

So I was weighing a closer crop to highlight the sign and her face.

[Schraubstock]

Hi

I have taken on board everything said about it so far, everything makes sense, but then again not.

I do not know if the "serving since" signage does or should play any part in the pic. To me it is neither here nor there.
The girls presents and her expressions are interesting enough to me to make this a bit more of the feature of the image. Therefore if you take a bit more of the surrounding elements of the pic away I think she would become a bit more interesting and an observer would wonder why she behaves the way she does.

With this in mind I think the only option is to crop the image to a portrait format.

I will put up two variations, one where the "serving since" signage is still there albeit only in part (for what it is worth) and the other where is has been cloned out to let the girls story be more prominent. That is all I can think of.

Greetings

[Schraubstock]

Sorry forgot to press the upload button.

[EyeSpy]

a little sharpening, a little contrast bump, some cropping. i hope you don't mind.

[Basset]

Oh, I don't mind at all efforts to illustrate with changes to the photo.

By the way, I will say I love, love the DA 70 for more than just close up portraits. Check out the grains of road salt by that post. This was only at 3.2 aperture.

[demp10]

Nice photo. Here is another take on what EyeSpy did.

Crop at 4x5 aspect ratio to give the old "golden" proportions of view cameras since it is a back-and-white classic style photo.
Cut the part of the sign that is showing on the left lower corner, It is rather distracting.
On the right cut just before the trucks exhaust and tank, both are too mechanical and specific.
Put the black metal column at about 1/3 in the frame.
Leave the "serving..." sign as is. It adds some interest in the background and begs the question "What".
Finally use vignetting to darken the corners and create a focal point. After all the photo is about the girl and not the truck or the sign.

The photo will look then like this:

[fg-one]

Simply converting it to 4:3 eliminates the front signboard. I think the background elements of the truck should be preserved. On the vertical crops, the pole takes too much attention.

[HEEGZ]

Normally cropping is done to make a stronger image. However, I think cropping off the peripheral elements such as the signboard in the lower corner, or the truck slogan would weaken it. The woman herself is not that engaging of a subject on her own, so my first inclination of a vertical crop probably would not work.

I agree with SpecialK completely. Other techniques for focusing on your subject, besides cropping, are to dodge/burn and tone the image. I spent about 10 minutes quickly dodging and burning, and about 1 minute setting highlights to gold and shadows to blue (all in LR). I actually consider this a poor image because of the wording on the truck trailer, however, removing the words in photoshop would help the image but brings up an artistic conundrum for street photography:

Do we convey a dishonest image in order to improve it?

or

Do we convey an honest image that contains distracting elements?

The solution, in my opinion, is to avoid such mistakes when composing/exposing the image, or to simply feature them as the subject(s) of the photo. Enough theory though, here's my take:

[Basset]

I agree with SpecialK completely. Other techniques for focusing on your subject, besides cropping, are to dodge/burn and tone the image. I spent about 10 minutes quickly dodging and burning, and about 1 minute setting highlights to gold and shadows to blue (all in LR). I actually consider this a poor image because of the wording on the truck trailer, however, removing the words in photoshop would help the image but brings up an artistic conundrum for street photography:

Do we convey a dishonest image in order to improve it?

or

Do we convey an honest image that contains distracting elements?

The solution, in my opinion, is to avoid such mistakes when composing/exposing the image, or to simply feature them as the subject(s) of the photo. Enough theory though, here's my take:

It really is interesting to see the different takes on this. The juxtaposition of an Asian female casting her eyes up next to a sign about "serving"is what makes the photo interesting to me. It's not the most compelling contrast, but without the sign I would not have kept the image.

Others want to photoshop the sign out. I really like seeing the different views come out, so thanks for the input.

[joelovotti]

With todays fantastic digital cameras and lenses it's a good idea to leave some room for cropping in framing our photos. Im not saying don't think about composition when shooting but leaving a little room for afterthought or creativity in PP is a good idea. This image is a example of shooting a little too tight at the time of capture.

I greatly enjoy considering my composition when framing my photos in the field but a little room never hurts.

joe

[HEEGZ]

It really is interesting to see the different takes on this. The juxtaposition of an Asian female casting her eyes up next to a sign about "serving"is what makes the photo interesting to me. It's not the most compelling contrast, but without the sign I would not have kept the image.

Others want to photoshop the sign out. I really like seeing the different views come out, so thanks for the input.

Very interesting that the signage was intentional. I suppose it's prominence shows that you were successful. I agree with you that it has been enjoyable to read everyone's takes on this image.

[Basset]

Very interesting that the signage was intentional. I suppose it's prominence shows that you were successful. I agree with you that it has been enjoyable to read everyone's takes on this image.

The coincidence of her expression and the sign was coincidental. But I took several other photos of folks going by that sign, and none of them worked. I could have positioned myself better, but I did not want to make my presence obvious, and there was not much "cover" on this not-so-busy street.

Just like I sort of kept an eye on this Let It Snow sign to see what photos I could pick up. Nothing that really played off the sign, but still a few fun ones.