Cropped or Uncropped?

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Uncropped vs Cropped?

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    16
DavidT

DavidT

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Continuing on the theme of artistic choices such as my other thread and poll about wing positions lets talk about cropping. In full disclosure I am a crop it tight kind of guy. Even when shooting landscape I seldom use wide lenses but rather medium to long telephoto as I like the compressed look and I prefer the additional details in the image by being more close up.

So here are two examples of a Barred Owl. The first one is uncropped right out of camera. The second one is cropped to my taste. What do you prefer?

Shot with a Sony A1, 600GM with 1.4x tele = 840mm F5.6 1/400, iso 1600.

Uncropped:
_Dav9319-Edit-2-Edit.jpg
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Cropped:
_Dav9323-Edit-2-Edit.jpg
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Thank you for participating!
David
 
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dtibbals said:
Continuing on the theme of artistic choices such as my other thread and poll about wing positions lets talk about cropping. In full disclosure I am a crop it tight kind of guy. Even when shooting landscape I seldom use wide lenses but rather medium to long telephoto as I like the compressed look and I prefer the additional details in the image by being more close up.

So here are two examples of a Barred Owl. The first one is uncropped right out of camera. The second one is cropped to my taste. What do you prefer?

Shot with a Sony A1, 600GM with 1.4x tele = 840mm F5.6 1/400, iso 1600.

Uncropped:


Cropped:


Thank you for participating!
David
Click to expand...

I'd try to get rid of the bright blue area on the left side of the frame, and that may involve a crop. My preferred approach is to move a few feet to the left making the photo so the wider crop can be used. The image is not strong enough to be a stand alone tight portrait, but could be strong enough to be an environmental portrait. I'd also brighten the subject and adjust the blue cast of the subject. In LR it's just a few seconds.
 
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EricBowles said:
I'd try to get rid of the bright blue area on the left side of the frame, and that may involve a crop. My preferred approach is to move a few feet to the left making the photo so the wider crop can be used. The image is not strong enough to be a stand alone tight portrait, but could be strong enough to be an environmental portrait. I'd also brighten the subject and adjust the blue cast of the subject. In LR it's just a few seconds.
Click to expand...
The challenge is a very limited line of sight that allowed for an unobstructed view. There were other trees and the moss in the way. Not much more that could be done to adjust angle.
 
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dtibbals said:
The challenge is a very limited line of sight that allowed for an unobstructed view. There were other trees and the moss in the way. Not much more that could be done to adjust angle.
Click to expand...
I understand. You might try adding canvas and stretching the image in Photoshop to create a little more space on the left side with the blue area cropped out.
 
I like how you did the right side. The left side I would go to where the blue meets the branch and maybe clone away some of the blue.

For a bit more effort check out content aware scaling in Photoshop to protect the subject and stretch the background.
 
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EricBowles said:
I understand. You might try adding canvas and stretching the image in Photoshop to create a little more space on the left side with the blue area cropped out.
Click to expand...
_Dav9323-Edit-2-Edit.jpg
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What do you think of this? I warmed up the colors a bit and adjusted the crop. Not the best shot and sure didn't have any good light but it is the first owl I have ever photographed.
 
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dtibbals said:
View attachment 32171

What do you think of this? I warmed up the colors a bit and adjusted the crop. Not the best shot and sure didn't have any good light but it is the first owl I have ever photographed.
Click to expand...

What would it looked like if you cropped it the other way with more space on the left instead of the right? I think the green branch then the light patch to the right kind of draws your eye from the owl. I think if you go the other way the branch that he/she is on and the green branch will act like leading lines brining your eye to the owl.
 
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Palmor said:
What would it looked like if you cropped it the other way with more space on the left instead of the right? I think the green branch then the light patch to the right kind of draws your eye from the owl. I think if you go the other way the branch that he/she is on and the green branch will act like leading lines brining your eye to the owl.
Click to expand...
Intersting. I like it. If I go any further I have the blue light in the background, in this crop it just barely peeks in,
_Dav9323-Edit-3-Edit.jpg
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dtibbals said:
Continuing on the theme of artistic choices such as my other thread and poll about wing positions lets talk about cropping. In full disclosure I am a crop it tight kind of guy. Even when shooting landscape I seldom use wide lenses but rather medium to long telephoto as I like the compressed look and I prefer the additional details in the image by being more close up.

So here are two examples of a Barred Owl. The first one is uncropped right out of camera. The second one is cropped to my taste. What do you prefer?

Shot with a Sony A1, 600GM with 1.4x tele = 840mm F5.6 1/400, iso 1600.

Uncropped:
View attachment 32173

Cropped:
View attachment 32174

Thank you for participating!
David
Click to expand...
In this particular example I like the I cropped. It gives a better feel for it’s environment. In the cropped one the moss in the background is a little distracting.
 
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I actually prefer the uncropped on this one, but it looks like the exposure was a little higher on the cropped one? Or is that just the new view makes it look brighter? If you bumped up the exposure at all on the cropped one, I would match it with the uncropped one.
 
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I often feel like the contrarian 🤓 but I'd prefer the image cropped in a somewhat different way - cropping on the right side so that the owl lines up with a power point (rule of thirds), then cloning out the blue sky, as Eric mentioned. Here's a quick crop of what I'm talking about - didn't bother cloning out the blue sky. In the end, I suppose that it's all a matter of taste, so now you have the opinion of a geezer in frozen Buffalo, NY! 🥴

5A01607C-FFAF-40B6-B2B4-1479A9F5388C.jpeg
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If you are going to crop, the last one looks the best to me as well. I would suggest that you try darkening the tree limbs on the right hand side as that should make the owl stand out even more.
Nice photo!
 
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My rule is to always give the bird room to move in the image, so your crop doesn't work for me. I'll offer two solutions.

The first is a tighter crop at the same aspect ration, but desaturate the blues so that they don't pull the eye away:

_Dav9319-Edit-2-Edit-1.jpg
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The other also desaturates the blues, but uses a 4:5 vertical crop:

_Dav9319-Edit-2-Edit-2.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.



On a side note, nicely captured. Have yet to find a Barred Own in the wild.
 
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Abinoone said:
I often feel like the contrarian 🤓 but I'd prefer the image cropped in a somewhat different way - cropping on the right side so that the owl lines up with a power point (rule of thirds), then cloning out the blue sky, as Eric mentioned. Here's a quick crop of what I'm talking about - didn't bother cloning out the blue sky. In the end, I suppose that it's all a matter of taste, so now you have the opinion of a geezer in frozen Buffalo, NY! 🥴

View attachment 32258
Click to expand...
Interesting crop. I split the difference about 7 post above yours. I didn't go as far right but centered the subject up more. It was not an ideal situation to get a stunning shot but playing around with the crop I think it can be a shot worth keeping around.
 
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Backdoor Arts said:
My rule is to always give the bird room to move in the image, so your crop doesn't work for me. I'll offer two solutions.

The first is a tighter crop at the same aspect ration, but desaturate the blues so that they don't pull the eye away:

View attachment 32259

The other also desaturates the blues, but uses a 4:5 vertical crop:

View attachment 32260


On a side note, nicely captured. Have yet to find a Barred Own in the wild.
Click to expand...
It is my first one as well. Circle B Bar in Lakeland FL.
 
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I agree about removing some of the image on the right side where the bright background pulls the viewer's eyes away from the prime subject.

I do not go much by the rule of thirds but I will draw an imaginary line from an upper corner diagonally to the opposite lower corner. Often as not the placement of the subject along this line makes for the strongest image.

When I first looked at the image on my screen the first thought I had was that it needed a Levels adjustment.
 
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