how much to crop?

10 years ago

I spent a good ten minutes trying to decide where and how much to crop this photo to no avail. Is there a standard formula or rule of thumb that one is supposed to use when cropping a photo? Being a beginner I have "JCC'B'd" (just crop the cr@*#p in the background) my photo's.
Now that I have learned about boket and depth of field; I actually have a photo that doesn't have any cr#%*@p in the back to crop (I know, not that funny) how do I determine how much and from what side should I crop?

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Comments (4)

jeaninwa
10 years ago
Hi molossermom, good to see you here.
Your spider picture looks pretty good to me!

From what I've learned (I'm also a beginner), cropping can be a great way to "zoom". How much to crop is up to you. What looks good?

There is also a rule of thirds. If you're using Photoshop, there's a grid that comes up over your picture when you crop. What I do is try to get my subject in a crosshair, or where the lines cross on the grid.

Also, if you're going to print the picture, make sure the ratio is correct. I've used 5 : 7. Otherwise, when you print the picture, some part of it will be cut off because the whole picture won't fit in the area to be printed.

Here's an example of mine. This photo was shot in RAW and JPEG. That way, I have an example of the picture to see in my folder once I download them, and also a RAW picture to edit. This photo was NOT a macro shot. I cropped it to show the ladybug. When I cropped, the ladybug itself was in the upper right crosshair on the tic tac toe grid in Photoshop.

Hope this helps, and good to see you!
joan_mn
10 years ago
I just crop until I like the picture better. I don't go by any rules. I also use it to make the emphasis on whatever I was trying to capture, like jeaninwa said.
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molossermom
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you for the warm welcome and the helpful advice.
I also use Photoshop but I didn't have my grid lines set to show.Part of my dilemma was that logically the spider was my focal point but i was planning on printing it to put on card stock for a halloween greeting card so I wanted enough of the web to add to the creepy factor. Also I decided the spider was just not quite as sharp as it could and should be; Not like the ladybug in you photo (which is outstanding! I love the colors you captured there.) So since I was going for a halloween themed greeting card I did what any creative Photoshop owner does and played with the extensive library of filters.
jeaninwa
10 years ago
Ohhhh that is wickedly creepy! Love it!

how much to crop?

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how much to crop?

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