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Jeremy Roussak

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« on: May 18, 2009, 06:11:12 pm »

How would you crop this? Would you bother?

Jeremy

[attachment=13775:ll.jpg]
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JeffKohn

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« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2009, 06:27:36 pm »

Trim a little bit from the sides and you've got a nice square composition. You can also crop equal amounts from the top and bottom to get a horizontal 5:4 image, but I think I prefer the square.
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dalethorn

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« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2009, 09:36:20 pm »

I would crop some from the bottom, how much I can't say, but once you get past the rock outcropping, the remainder continues undifferentiated down to the bottom, so that's a lot of space with sameness.  If it added something interesting it would be keepable - just my view.
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RSL

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« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2009, 09:51:35 pm »

Jeremy, It's not a question of "bother." There's no reason to crop it. Square format pictures tend to be static, but this is a situation where static is what you want. Your composition makes good use of the rule of thirds, and the long drop down the rocky slope into darkness enhances the feeling of isolation of the structure (castle?). I suspect this is your first impression of the thing. Did you make any other shots?

It never ceases to amaze me when someone shoots a picture of something he saw that stopped him and said, "take my picture," and then proceeds to figure out how he can crop the thing to "improve" it. When you took the picture you were "cropping" a small hunk of reality that exists in the middle of infinity. Learn to trust your own judgment.
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dalethorn

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« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2009, 11:19:13 pm »

I trust my first instinct at capture time, but I also trust my first instinct at edit time. Not equally, but then, what is equal?  But I don't stop there.  I may do a test edit, then put it away and look again tomorrow or the next day, for a fresh perspective. Not all photos will be complex enough to warrant a lot of study, but some do. In any case, a good photo isn't like a patterned wallpaper (on an actual wall), or a fancy paint job on a custom car. It's more alive than that, and can change. The analogy that springs into my mind at this moment is the long-running argument about the U.S. Constitution, to name an example of a document, which a photograph is. The argument or controversy is over whether it's a "living document" or whether it's something that should be frozen in time and left alone, with only the rudimentary amendments necessary to match important social change. Obviously you could "evolve" a photo like the Moonrise mentioned elsewhere, or allow it to be despoiled in a TV commercial, or just freeze it and move on to other things. I prefer to treat most of my photos, those that are purely art anyway, as living things that may change.
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button

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« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2009, 11:59:59 pm »

Quote from: kikashi
How would you crop this? Would you bother?

Jeremy

[attachment=13775:ll.jpg]

Try a crop from the left, just inside the little tree, and from the bottom, just below where the cliff leaves the frame to the left.  I think this will add a bit of excitement to the shot by creating motion with diagonal lines.

John
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2009, 12:07:29 am »

I agree with Russ. No cropping necessary; it's fine as is. I might be tempted to crop just a tiny bit from the bottom -- just to above the little rock outcropping in the lower right, which I find a tiny bit distracting.

Nice image!

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popnfresh

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« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2009, 03:05:23 pm »

Quote from: kikashi
How would you crop this? Would you bother?

Jeremy

[attachment=13775:ll.jpg]
Here's how I would crop it.


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Jeremy Roussak

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« Reply #8 on: May 21, 2009, 01:04:06 pm »

Quote from: RSL
Jeremy, It's not a question of "bother." There's no reason to crop it. Square format pictures tend to be static, but this is a situation where static is what you want. Your composition makes good use of the rule of thirds, and the long drop down the rocky slope into darkness enhances the feeling of isolation of the structure (castle?). I suspect this is your first impression of the thing. Did you make any other shots?
Thanks, Russ, and everyone else.

When I wrote "bother", I was really wondering if someone other than me would think that the image was worth fiddling with at all. It meant something to me, because I was there when I took it, but I wasn't sure it would appeal to anyone else.

I didn't make any other shots: that was pretty much the only view from where I was at the time (the veranda of the house where I'd spent the previous night). It's a two-shot stitch, for what that's worth, taken with a 5D2 and a 100-400L at 330mm.

The building is the summer palace in Udaipur. No-one has lived there for many years and it's fallen into disrepair, but it was used for a while as a radio relay station (hence the profusion of aerials). I went up to it that evening to watch the sunset, which was rather lovely.

Quote from: RSL
It never ceases to amaze me when someone shoots a picture of something he saw that stopped him and said, "take my picture," and then proceeds to figure out how he can crop the thing to "improve" it. When you took the picture you were "cropping" a small hunk of reality that exists in the middle of infinity. Learn to trust your own judgment.
You're right, of course. I just have this chronic sense of insecurity...

Jeremy
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RSL

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« Reply #9 on: May 21, 2009, 02:48:00 pm »

Get rid of the sense of insecurity. Your work is good. Trust yourself.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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« Reply #10 on: May 21, 2009, 08:05:25 pm »

Quote from: RSL
Get rid of the sense of insecurity. Your work is good. Trust yourself.

Very true.


Jeremy: Years ago I started showing my photos to other photographers to get their comments. I still remember the first time that a couple of them didn't like what I had done in one image, and I said to myself "They just didn't get it", instead of "Oh, I'm sorry I messed it up." That was a landmark moment in my maturation as a photographer.

The number and assortment of responses you have gotten should tell you it's a very good picture. A little judicious cropping might even improve it a little, but it sure ain't necessary.

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Jeremy Roussak

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« Reply #11 on: May 23, 2009, 03:40:05 pm »

Gentlemen, thanks! I'm going to have a Sally Field moment  

Jeremy
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