Exercise 14 Cropping

This is the original photograph that I took on the Long Mynd on a very cold October morning.  I thought it would make a really good subject for the cropping exercise as there is a lot of scope both with foreground and background and also with the depth of field.

Original Image



Crop 1 Screen Print



This is my first crop.  From the results there is a good balance between the sky and the ground and I think it works.  The balance seems nice and there is a real emphasis on where I am and this could be easily identified by the mast, which was one of the points of the shot.

  

Crop 1 Photograph

I like crop 1.  There was far too much foreground on the original shot and this has really made a difference to the end result.  I feel like I could walk up the hill and touch the beaming sun with my hands.

As I look at the photograph I wonder if I could experiment from a width decrease and more foreground?

Crop 2




Photo Crop 2

First I added some more foreground to try and balance the photograph in readiness of the increase.



Screen Print Crop 3

Photograph Crop 3

In the above crops I have increased the foreground and decreased the width of the photograph.   By doing this I have re portioned the photograph but I don't feel it has benefited whatsoever from either of these options.

My fourth crop was quite severe looking for a totally different composition.  Removing the points of location from the photograph I wanted to focus on the sunset rather than the area.



Crop 4



Photograph 4

Like crop 2 & 3 I did not like the end result but it was worth the experiment.  The photograph has lost balance and looks quite ackward and out of sorts.



The last and final adaption was to increase the foreground rather more than the last crop had left.  It was a little too severe and also did not give any detail of the land at all which I think it needed. 

I would have left a little more but the mast would be only partly showing and this would have spoilt the photograph.

The Final Photograph

From the final crop and image the attention is drawn to the beautiful sunrise and the roll cloud on the hill.  Moments after the photograph was taken the sun rose too high and the lovely combination of cloud and land was gone for another day.  I really like this final crop and have kept it as my best image of the day.

Conclusion

This exercise has been very rewarding.  I like both crop 1 and the final photograph for the different reasons that I have explained.  My favourite personal choice though is the last image. 

The process of this exercise has made me think more clearly about the detail that I am looking for in the photograph.  I went to the Long Mynd on a very early morning and in all sincerity I was just looking for the experience.  I went to see the sunset but did not realise the actual beauty of the landscape as I had never visited the area before. 

I see this visit and exercise as a trial run for many other experiences just like this but with more knowledge about what I want and what is there to be captured.