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Keyare
06-03-2005, 11:29 PM
1) General Cropping

Sometimes you’ll get an uncropped photograph and you will want to maximise its impact for an ad, or some other project. Here’s a few tips on how to logically crop photographs and the reasons for doing so.

Let’s take an ad with an uncropped photograph in it for example:
http://ih2.com/b/Graphic1.jpg


Now, take a good look at the photo and figure out what the absolutely most important part of the picture is and draw a box around it. In this case, you'll need the message, and her face, a bit of her clothes to show that she's quirky (you'll find out why at the end)
http://ih2.com/b/2.jpg



Blow up the picture so that the edges of your selection are the same as the whitespace border in your ad. (aligned left and right to the headline width) This will give your important visual elements room to breath and your eyes room to focus on those elements.
http://ih2.com/b/3.jpg



You'll notice that part of the sign gets cropped. Don't worry, it's really not a necessary part of the photograph, you don't need it. it doesn't do anything for the impact of the ad. I've also moved the edge of the important visual elements (red line) up to just under the headline, where the next line of text should start, or, again, where the visual space gives it enough room to comfortably focus on the elements.



Now move the logo and tagline into a space of the photograph, or outside the photograph that will nod impede with viewing them. (and get rid of your red line)

http://ih2.com/b/4.jpg

That's how you maximize impact of a photograph through cropping.

Keyare
06-03-2005, 11:30 PM
Try it yourself on some other photographs. Ask yourself, "what are we trying to show here?" And draw a box around it (whether you REALLY draw a box or just do it in your head is a matter of preference). In this case we want to show a guy looking at a computer. The photograph SHOULD have been taken with the man closer to the computer, but this is what we have to work with.
http://ih2.com/b/6.jpg
We need his face, and at LEAST the edge of the computer. Now draw your box.
http://ih2.com/b/7.jpg
Now expand your box by enough room to focus on those important elements and crop it.
http://ih2.com/b/8.jpg
Viola. You have all the elements you need to completely capture the picture, you're not wasting any space and the elements are as large as they can possibly get.

Keyare
06-03-2005, 11:31 PM
2) CROPPING PEOPLE.

http://ih2.com/b/5.jpg

Okay, this guy might be a realtor and he's emailed you this photo and he wants it on his business card. You're NOT going to put his whole body in there, it's just not necessary. "What am I trying to show here?" Well, fe need his face, we know that, and we want to show at least the top of his tie, so that you can tell he's a professional.

http://ih2.com/b/9.jpg

Now expand it... and crop.

http://ih2.com/b/10.jpg

Keyare
06-03-2005, 11:32 PM
Now here's where it gets interesting. The closer the head is to the top of the picture, and/or the more shoulder showing , the more imposing the photo. Whereas, the more space you put above the head, the more meek the person looks. Let me show you:
http://ih2.com/b/11.jpg http://ih2.com/b/12.jpg

and to the extreme...
http://ih2.com/b/13.jpg

Keyare
06-03-2005, 11:33 PM
Now, why did we need to show quirkiness in the ad in the first example? Because it was a real ad. thank you to Endeavour Creative for letting me use their ad as an example. This was their first ad, without cropping:

http://www.chepooka.com/quirky.png

And then their final ad with some cropping adjustments:
http://www.endeavorcreative.com/images/uploads/quirkyad.gif (http://www.endeavorcreative.com/index.php/weblog/noncommercial/)


Much better use of space I'd say.



Thanks EC!

EC
06-03-2005, 11:54 PM
:)

morea
06-04-2005, 12:04 AM
hooray! nicely done :p

uncle carbunkle
06-04-2005, 12:06 AM
i like tutorials on how to chop things up. well done, keyare!

i want to go out and 'crop' stuff, now...

uncle carbunkle
06-04-2005, 12:06 AM
haha.

Kool
06-04-2005, 12:38 AM
Nice! http://home.comcast.net/~rnick9/koolsmiley.gif

D-Zine
06-04-2005, 03:40 AM
Thanks Key! Some good info there :)