Cropping

* Today's photos were among the last I ever took with my point & shoot.

So, today I'm talking about cropping.  Why?  It is the first step to making the pictures great.  Most photographers, I found, don't publish their pictures straight out of their cameras.  (These are often referred to as "raw" photos or "SOOC" for Straight Out Of Camera.)  Cropping is only one of the steps used, but it's important.  Let's look at a few photos that need to be cropped, shall we?

My daughters among the wildflowers - and my finger in the corner!  oops!

While living in Texas for nearly 10 years, I learned to love a tradition they have there.  You see, the state flower is the bluebonnet and come about April you see them all over.  There are often large swathes of bluebonnets and other wildflowers on the sides of the road or in empty lots.  So off we went one late afternoon, the girls in their Easter dresses, to take pictures among the flowers.  I'm certain you can see the flaw in the picture above that would ruin the picture if I wasn't able to crop the photo.  BUT - with a small amount of adjusting....

Voila!

Much better!  Here are a few more things I cropped.  This particular field was busy with many other families also taking pictures.  It was also right next to a busy street and behind a subdivision, so there was a lot of cropping to be done!  Sometimes the cropping was just to frame the subject or even to zoom in.  (remember that this is a cheap point and shoot from a discount store - there was no zoom.)

Some before and afters

Look for the background issue, then see how the cropping resolved it.

Before:

After:

Before - with the power lines in the background:

And after:

It's also a great way to zoom in on the one child that won't look at the camera....

Also can help you take a halfway decent shot and make it fit the frame for Grandma!

You get the idea......

I actually had to do a lot of cropping from this outing.  What I learned was my next rule....

Rule #3  Pay attention to the background

It will save lots of time cropping later!

Of course there were a couple of those happy accidents.  I love those!

Those bluebonnets are always so pretty.  I think I need to visit Texas again soon.  :)