Composition & Cropping

[charliebettell]

Do you take the time to think about what your photo will look like before pressing the shutter release button? - or do you simply prefer to crop your photos in order to get good composition?

 

Personally, I like to do both.

 

I always use Adobe Photoshop 'Levels' and 'Unsharp Mask' to try and improve my shots.

 

 

 

 

 

What are your preferred methods for improving shots.

 

 

Charlie

[Guest allibee]

interesting that you should ask as i've just written a 2500 word article on composition but the main things in my experience come down to not getting too excited about any central living subject matter - ie man with fish - to the exclusion of what is going on around them be it busy backgrounds, things growing out of their heads (trees/pylons etc) or horizon lines on the skew. look for new and interesting angles and don't have the subject centrally placed if possible are my other must do's

 

once the pic is set up and taken i generally crop out anything that doesn't represent why i took the picture and what it is about in photoshop, along with popping the colours and levels. sometimes i'll do some work in RAW but generally do it all in PS

[Steve Randles]

allibee, it would be great if you started a new topic and included that..

 

Charlie,

Composition tips where discussed briefly here Composition

 

And some photograph optimisation where also discussed here Optimising Photographs

 

Personally, I crop when taking the photograph, I want the image taken right first time so I dont have to crop in photoshop. As for image optimising again I like to do as little as possible, curves and levels if needed and maybe a colour saturation increase. But in general, I use Photoshop to resize only.

 

By the way Charlie, do you "Save for web" your photographs in PS? as this knocks out the EXIF data, and none of your shots have this. If you just use "save as" the EXIF remains intact and you can select a quality size from 1 -12 to keep filesize at a minimum of your choice.

[Guest Finepix]

If I'm after something specific (as in the AN photo challenges) I will compose the image as I'm taking it.

If I'm taking a nature based shot, say a spider, I pretty much work on my insticts as you generally don't know how long you have before it makes a run for it. I will always try for a face on shot or something different and interesting, like the spider with its prey.

If I'm taking a nature based shot on the ground, say fungus, again I will compose the shot whilst taking it. I will also get rid of any distractions such as leaves in the way, blades of grass directly in shot, that kind of thing.

And also try for a low point of view, ie looking up at your subject rather than looking down.

 

But, there is also nothing as good as a spontaneous (sp?) fun shot, especially of family members where you don't care about the distractions (such as a messy house!) because all of the focus is on your subject. (as in this one of my two terrors messing around in doors during a wet half term last year )

 

 

In photoshop I always (probably out of habit more than anything else) adjust the contrast and sharpness. I'll then play around with levels and curves and crop if necessary.

 

[Steve Randles]

Great shot Julia, great action..

[Guest Finepix]

Great shot Julia, great action..

 

Thanks Steve. I took so many of these. I was spread out on the couch, the radio was blaring and they both decided to dance and play up to the camera, which doesn't happen very often due to the odd bout of shyness ...