Everyone wants to look their best in a photo and as photographers, we have the great power to ensure that they do with a few cropping tips.
The options for cropping a photo can seem endless. While cropping decisions are often led by personal preference, style, and artistic vision, there are a few important “rules” to keep in mind when cropping photos.
1. Be Mindful of Fingers (and toes!)
We’ve all done it. The moment is in front of you, and either you didn’t have time to take a step back, or the space is too small. You glance at the back of your camera and see the perfect moment and expression, with only half of your child’s fingers in the frame. While this certainly isn’t a reason to toss an image aside entirely, it is something to be mindful of. If chopping fingers and toes is a habit for you, take the time to intentionally look through your viewfinder. Ask yourself if you have enough space or if you need to take a step back, in order to capture all the fingers and toes.
2. Avoid Cropping at the Hips
Knowing where to crop an image is especially important for creating flattering portraits. When choosing where to crop an image, avoiding the hips, chest, or widest area of the body is best practice. Cropping at these areas can often make individuals look wider than they really are.
Photo by Bre Thurston
3. Foreheads and Hairlines
Cropping just below the hairline has the tendency to make foreheads look larger than they are. Cropping to ensure the entire head/hairline is in the frame, or purposefully cropping lower to highlight features of the face will be the most flattering angles. Be careful not to crop too close to the eyebrows though because it can make your subject’s forehead far too small.
4. Keep Joints Intact
If it bends, don’t crop it. Cropping a photo at the elbow, knee, ankle, wrist, etc can make a photo feel like it is ending abruptly. If you need to crop around these areas, make sure and do it a little above or below to keep a nice flow throughout the image.
5. All Ears
van Gogh may have chopped of his ear but it’s not the best move for your subjects. Unless you’re doing an extreme crop of the face, make sure you’re not clipping a little of the ear off. This is especially easy to do when photographing close ups so make sure and take a good look around your frame prior to pressing the shutter.
Photo by Rachel Nielsen
But remember, there’s always an exception to the rule. Every crop will be dependent on your photo and subject so simply keep the rules in mind and determine if it’s effective to break them or not on a photo-by-photo basis.
Kristy Dooley, Vermont
Click Photo School Instructor | CM Mentor
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Kristy Dooley lives in Vermont with her husband and two daughters. She shoots natural light photography with a passion for macro, portraits, and lifestyle images. She loves focusing on and capturing the details of her family’s daily life and has recently started accepting clients for on-location sessions.
Read all photography tutorials by Kristy Dooley.
The post Don’t chop my fingers off! 5 important cropping rules appeared first on Clickin Moms.
