Crop Shop: Follow-up Squirrel

In my previous article, regarding the placement of the squirrel in relation to the edge of a frame, there were some interesting comments. As I responded in the comment section, I realized that I had left an important detail not discussed. It may have seemed that sole basis for placement of the subject (squirrel) in frame was the perceived directional facing orientation of the squirrel. It was not. While there are many considerations, some voiced by commenters and some not, they must be weighed against each other for a satisfactory (and sometimes not so satisfactory compromise).

The finished crop for the image is show above and little resembles the concept-demonstrating images from the earlier article. It does draw on the need not to compress the space on the sunward side of the squirrel but it also considers other factors.

Remember, when you read a concept on how to compose, crop or otherwise choose inclusion of elements in any image, it is a balancing act. Many complimentary and competing factors have to be considered in arriving at a (or one of several) final framing choices. Ultimately, cropping (including in-camera image framing) is always a compromise.

Rikk Flohr © 2013

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Crop Shop: A Tale of Two Squirrels

Submitted for your approval, two crops from one image of a squirrel.  He is not a particularly sinister squirrel (well in one image he is if we take a literal archaic definition of Sinister: on the left side; left)

The Squirrel is heavily side-lit with the sun coming at about a 45° degree angle-camera left. This causes the squirrel to be lit on his right and shadowed upon his left. I created two equivalent crops of this image. In the first image I placed the squirrel on the right rule of thirds. In the second crop, I placed him on the left rule of thirds.  Given that background is pretty much a wash in this compositional exercise, what does the crop choice do to your image?

 

The top image has the light side of the squirrel inward, toward the center of the frame. The bottom image has the light side of the squirrel outward, toward the near edge of the frame. Which crop feels more natural to you?  I can tell you I like the top crop a lot better than the bottom crop.  The bottom squirrel appears crowded with the edge while the top squirrel feels comfortable in space.  In fact, "space” is the key word here.

In the Rule of Space, we speak of space applying to the direction in which an entity is facing or ‘looking’. What is going on here? The squirrel is facing dead-on straight at us but the shadow/light of the figure is creating a de facto directional facing.  The light side is perceived visually as the front and the shadow side is the back, if you will. This illusion and sensibility create a situation where our perception of the top squirrel is that he is facing into the frame and the bottom squirrel is facing out of the frame. The difference in feel is subtle to be sure but palpable.

Often, a face isn’t the sole clue as to in which direction an entity is facing or perceived to be facing. Take this into consideration as you frame and later crop your images to keep a more pleasing composition.

Rikk Flohr  © 2013

Lightroom™ Compositional Guides: Triangles

A look at one of the more obscure compositional guides in the Lightroom Crop Tool.

The picture show above is a cropped version of larger capture. It was composed after capture in-software, specifically, Lightroom 5.0. Lightroom offers a wealth of compositional guides within its crop tool. More Here.Some of them are quite well known. A Rule of Thirds guide is default in Lightroom. Also commonly used are the Golden Ratio and Golden Spiral. There is an straight grid, useful for architectural shots and a print size overlay for visualizing your image on various stock paper sizes.  There are also a couple of of less well-known compositional guides.

This Compositional Guide is called, quite simply, ‘Triangles’. The premise of this compositional guide is to run a diagonal from opposite corners along the long axis of the image. Perpendiculars are run from the diagonal bisector to the remaining corners, creating four smaller triangles and two larger triangles if you combine them. When I have a subject with a long-thin profile, the triangles dialog can be a great place to start.  This 12-spotted Skimmer is just such a subject.

There are several competing limitations which drive the in-camera framing on this shot.  First and foremost is a skittish subject. I can only get so close. The second is a tough mid-day sun which forced me into using a ring flash to illuminate the underside of the dragonfly. Well, the Canon MR-14EX Ring Flash only fits on my 100MM F2.8 Macro so I am focal length-challenged from the start. I knew going in I was bound to be cropping to fill the frame with my subject.

One of the things I do when I know in-camera composition is out the window, is to go to Center-point focusing.  It eliminates a lot of focus issues when shooting wildlife but it does necessitate the holding of your subject dead-center of the image. Composition is unfortunately left for software but the percentage of in-focus shots increases dramatically.

One of the other issues is the presence of the rebar upon which the dragonfly is seated. It needs to be subdued somehow. Taking it slightly off the vertical by using a little Crop Rotation, is just the way to lessen its prominence.

We focus on eyes. It is our nature. The rotation of the crop was designed to fill the frame and place the important parts of the dragonfly along  strong angles in the photograph. I decided to make the diagonal just touch the tail and bottom of the thorax as if the insect were resting on the guide. The remainder of the cropping was left to hold the area of the lowest wing and the highest eye at the intersections with the perpendiculars. Care was taken to allow a little space on the far side of the rebar lest we create a visually distracting sliver. All of this served to slightly lean the rebar into the frame. The reset of the work is done with dodging and burning to get that rebar under control and beneath the dragonfly in visual priority.

With the guides removed in the final version, you can see the final effect of our labors. We’ve filled the frame, created a strong diagonal and a pair of leading lines to take us into the eye of the dragon… fly, all while composing competing elements into a visually satisfying image.

If the diagonal runs the wrong way in your image, try the key combination of [Shift][O] to toggle the overlay between its two versions.

When you have a diagonal subject, consider using the Triangles Compositional overlay to aid your crop.

Rikk Flohr © 2013

Fibonacci Sequence: Peril on the High Seas

For the latest concept image by Model Alemari and myself, the Fibonacci Sequence drove the final crop (above). You can see the deconstruction of this image at the Fleeting Glimpse Images blog here.

The curves of the bow of the ship suggested the Fibonacci sequence might be a good place to compose and the Golden Spiral Crop Overlay from Lightroom helped us along.  In looking at the uncropped finished composite, I knew I had an excess of overhead space and knew I would be trimming it down.

The fine placement of the figure left-right in the frame was used as the focal point of the spiral. The guides also aided us in deciding how much overhead space was needed to complete the crop.  From there it was just a matter of not slicing off anything important.

The Golden Spiral guide is available in Lightroom by invoking the Crop Tool and cycling through the overlays using the [ O ] key. [Shift][ O ] orients the spiral correctly for your cropping and composition. You can read about Lightroom Overlays here:

Rikk Flohr © 2013

Crop Shop: Blast From the Past: 2005 Cropping 3/5

I snapped this shot of a fool-hardy casual photographer way back in 2005 with my first DSLR (Canon 20D). As I was resurrecting this image the other day, I got to thinking about the in-camera framing and the subsequent crop. Here we have a person (subject) and a setting (frozen waterfall).  At first glance that seems like all there is to it. Crop/Frame it so the person is on the Rule of Thirds Lower Right Power Point because the person and action is upward and to the left. 

A deeper analysis reveals that the subject of the photo might be a more interesting concept: stupidity or danger perhaps? Now the proximity to peril becomes the driving factor of how to finish the crop on this image..

On the image, I’ve overlaid a red grid showing the Rule of Thirds and a yellow grid detailing the Rule of Fifths.  Moving the person on to the right-hand Rule of Thirds eliminates some of the left side of the image which, I think, is important to illustrate the impending ice-fall potential. Retaining those fractured and water-eroded holes in the ice increases the danger. I also decided the peril was increased by showing the mound of ice upon which the intrepid photographer is standing. I could have moved his head down to to lowest right Rule of Fifth but I felt, though the grandeur of the ice sculpture improved slightly, the precarious nature of his position was diminished.  The path he climbed and the perch he chose add to the element of the peril.

Original Rule of Thirds-In Camera Framing

Ultimately, as I find myself doing more often, I found a Rule of Third – Rule of Fifth intersection to be a sweet spot. There lies the head of the person allowing peril to fill the remainder of the frame. Other choices made the person stronger or the ice sculpture stronger but this choice makes the peril most pronounced and that, gentle readers, is the name of the game. Make the subject stronger through cropping – even when the subject is danger.

Rikk Flohr © 2013

3.33:1 — Crop Ratio Revisited: Against the Wind

In a previous article, I extolled the virtues of the 10/3 or 3.33:1 Ratio for cropping a longer panoramic view.  The other day while shooting with my 4:3 aspect ratio Canon G10 I found myself in a situation again which required (to my aesthetics at least) a panoramic crop.  Eventually, I found myself back in 10/3:1 territory.

The uncropped original  shown above reveals many problems. Notably the reflections on the glass through which I was shooting.  They place a nice grid pattern across the image that will be loads of fun to remove in a pixel-based image editor.  Thankfully, I have excess foreground and sky to eliminate to tighten the composition. The star of my show is the bending steam coming out of the distant power plant stacks. I need to eliminate that which is unnecessary in order to showcase the steam clouds as a subject.

I have a great sky in the lower portion and some decent foreground details with which to work. I also want to include the clock tower as a minor player to frame the right-hand edge and face back into my subject, the steam columns bending in the wind.  A standard 2:1 crop gets me close but doesn’t get me zeroed in on the steam. I need a wider crop accentuate the all-ready wide subject and make it prominent enough to dominate the frame.

Thinking back to my 10/3 Lizard crop of a few articles back, I decided to use the 3.33:1 ratio here. I was pretty happy with what I saw.  Not only did it render the reflections moot, it made my wind-bent steam much more the center of action. I stuck my supporting player, the clock tower, on the RH Rule of Sevenths to balance the edge of the frame and keep it from over powering the intended subject.  I left a rule of fifths foreground/horizon to let the sky dominate.

There is just something about 3 1/3: 1 that works for me. Try it on those tough panoramas and see if the ratio works for you.

Rikk Flohr © 2012

Crop Shop: Badger in the Grass

“Sometimes deciding upon the perfect crop means tossing away an equally valid version.”

Badger in the Grass is a photograph from my recent workshop to Badlands National Park. As an instructor on the Badlands Winter Wildlife  workshop, it is important to get my clients close to compelling views of wildlife. A participant and I followed this badger for nearly a quarter mile to get this shot. Badger in the Grass went through surprisingly few iterations. The uncropped image shown below is very simple — which complicates things. Blue Sky, razor-thin depth of field and an obvious subject give us the old Bob Seger quandary “… what to leave in, what to leave out”

A closer examination of the uncropped original above shows a dead-center subject that doesn’t quite work. The reason for the in-camera framing is that I shoot wildlife with only the center focus point enabled. I want to chose where the image focuses to ensure the tightness of the focal lock on the animal’s face. That leaves us with the ability to chop off non-contributing portions of the image to improve our composition. Those portions are not always obvious.

This crop was actually my second crop. Ultimately the first crop became my final choice but not before I agonized over this crop.  The American Badger has been moved to the lower-right power point to emphasize the uncovered eye.  I left unfocused grass, sharp grass, unfocused hillside and finally sky to give myself depth.

In final analysis of which crop to use, the two dark bands in the blue sky offered enough of a distraction for me to sacrifice the depth of having the sky in the scene and the Rule of Thirds composition. Those two shadows are actually very nearby out-of-focus strands of prairie grass. I was laying on my belly for these captures meaning not only was there a badger in the grass — there was a photographer in the grass as well.

Here is an overlay of the crop I decided upon. I decided to omit the sky and with it the depth. The badger is long and low and the crop needs to be long and low as well. This allows space in our mind for the long badger body, hidden in the grass, but within our expectations, to occupy.  The nearby grass shadows aren’t as obvious without the sky and that solves another dilemma.  The closer crop makes the badger encounter seem more personal and engages the viewer.

When all is said and done, I have a very mono-tone image because I have left out the blue skies, which, while natural, took away from the overall golden tone of the image. Black. white and gold, and a badger in the grass… staring at a photographer in the grass… and ultimately you.

Rikk Flohr © 2012