Cropping is one of the most commonly used operations in post. When we usually take portrait works, no one can shoot a perfect composition in every one, some angles are not good, and some other interference factors are also taken in, and curious cropping comes in handy. Cropping looks very simple, and it is not very easy to crop well, after all, everyone has a different understanding of composition, so there is no photo that must be cropped, mainly to see what kind of result we need to express.
Let's talk about some methods and ideas about photo cropping
These methods and ideas not only play a good role in post-cropping, but also bring us correct guidance in the early shooting.
The first step is to determine the extent to which the portrait is captured, sometimes the frame can include both the entire body and the surrounding environment, and sometimes it can focus on a close-up of a specific part.
In full-body portraits, the surrounding environment is often captured in most of the photos, and if the environment is conducive to our expression, it is necessary to better preserve the environment.
If you want to remove the interference of the environment and make the model more prominent to the status of the subject, you can crop it into a half-body photo, cropped above the knee or waist, so that it can highlight the main character and retain part of the background, so that the picture will not look hollow.
If you think that the background is useless at all, mainly for photographing the model, then you can crop it above the chest or shoulders, which can focus on expressing the model's eyes and expression. However, this requires the model's performance ability and the photographer's shooting angle very high, so try to be as careful as possible when cutting.
Sometimes we have decided what kind of portrait we want to take, and we have a clear idea of the composition, but no matter how we shoot, it doesn't feel right. For example, the expression of the model taken from a distance is very good, but it is always not good when it is close, this is the composition we want to highlight the expression of the model, and this matter can only be used to use the photo taken from a distance.
Cropping in this case will definitely lose some pixels, and if you crop too much, that is, if you enlarge the person in the photo too much, the clarity of the photo will decrease, which will make the photo look grainy. Therefore, the key is to do a good job in the early stage and leave enough room for cutting in the later stage.
For example, the picture below looks pretty good.
However, after extensive cropping, the image quality has obviously decreased a lot.
It's important to know how to crop, otherwise it's easy to get a photo that looks awkward. There is a saying about cutting is not to cut at the joints, try to avoid cutting the ankles, knees, elbows, etc., and pay attention to the cutting of the shoulders and neck, do not cut half and leave half
Cut at the ankle or knee joint and it will obviously look awkward
When we need a close-up of the face, it is best to put the model's eyes on the top half of the composition, and pay attention to the previous not to "cut off" the model's neck, nor to crop on the chin, and also to keep the full forehead, if the top really needs to be cropped, you can remove some of the hair on the top of the head.
Cropping looks easy, but after all, cropping is only for remedy, the important thing is the early shooting, and the early shooting can get better results through later adjustments.
