How would you crop this?

[smilez03]

Hi,

I was in the park today working on shooting birds, trees, leaves (ya know --boring stuff to improve my skills) when I saw this.

I was toying with different ways of cropping it, but I'm not sure.I tried leaving in the playground sign, and then just the two of them, but I'm unsure of what works best. It also looked kind of neat in B&W because the little girl takes on a bright appearance (because of her pink coat) and the older gentleman is a very dark contrast.

Any ideas? Here's the original from the camera.

THANKS!

[RodneyBlair]

smilez03 wrote:

Hi,

I was in the park today working on shooting birds, trees, leaves (ya know -- boring stuff to improve my skills) when I saw this.

I was toying with different ways of cropping it, but I'm not sure. I tried leaving in the playground sign, and then just the two of them, but I'm unsure of what works best. It also looked kind of neat in B&W because the little girl takes on a bright appearance (because of her pink coat) and the older gentleman is a very dark contrast.

Any ideas? Here's the original from the camera.

THANKS!

While the pink is an attention getter, the overall scene is bright with dark elements. The man, being the largest darkest element in the scene wins most of the attention. This will be easier noticed if converted to b/w. Our eyes are attracted to contrast and there is more contrast between the man and the background elements. You'll have to stand back from your monitor a good distance to see this.

I'm thinking a much tighter crop will be more visually effective.

Rodney

[peripatetic]

Not sure how much help a crop is here.

Something's missing.

Will ponder further.

[TMacaw]

Wow!, a thousand individual interpretations for this one .. at least! For me, an immediate reaction in inclusion of the "playground' sign. What a terrific title piece for this wonderful contrast of images. I have not yet tried to modifiy your image, but a tighter crop from the top and right side is what comes to me now.
No matter, you have a great feel for composition and timing. I will also have to see it in b/w to decide, but the pink really embodies the contrast of subjects in this scene. Now it comes down to each photog's intent in publishing it.
Very nice!
Tom B. (TMc) :!:

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took a moment to play and ...

[...ben]

Like Tom B. said, lot's of individual interpretations.

Here's mine.

[smilez03]

...ben, I like the Sepia tone. I like your crop, I can see the life insurance quote across the top "because she deserves the best..." or something like that!

Tmacaw,after playing around for awhile, your crop was simliar toone ofthose I liked best.

But... peripateic put it well -- something still missing. when i put it in black and white, Im still not sure. I guess i'll have to keep playing.

THANKS FOR THE CONTINUED HELP!

[aladyforty]

I like to keep the surrounding area in the shot to a degree, the people are the focus so I would leave them colored

[perdendosi]

I don't like the playground sign because the words and symbols below "playground" are too distracting. I thought about creating a natural frame with the elements of the image... what do you think?

[peripatetic]

perdendosi wrote:

I don't like the playground sign because the words and symbols below "playground" are too distracting. I thought about creating a natural frame with the elements of the image... what do you think?

Definitely the best so far, and it seems a lot better in colour. The image is nearly monochrome anyway except for the pink jacket.

This must be very close to the picture that was waiting to be released.

[digcamfan]

Here is another take...

Rotate 1.3 right.

Crop.

Color Saturation increased.

A lil bit of bright/contrast adjust too.

Goals:

Isolate the subjects to emphasize them.

Retain the shadows of the subjects