Cropping Assignment

We've been set a small assignment based around cropping, we touched on this with Jason in this weeks session and it was quite interesting. We did a small cropping exercise in groups using printed off photos and it was good to discuss how we would each crop the image and what effect that would add.

We also touched on Vivan Maier's work and how her images were cropped. I found this very interesting and it was brought up that John Maloof, the man who discovered her images, may be cropping images in ways in which Maier never intended. This is an argument that can never be settled based around her work but it is also common practice for Magnum photographers to require there images not to be altered in any way for publication without the photographers written permission. I suppose this is to cut down on publishers uses photos to put a message across in which the photographer never intended.

We were shown 3 shots of Edward Kennedy in a well known publication in 1972. There were 3 editions released each one showing a cropped version of a photo, each showing a very different thing. The original photograph was Kennedy and a priest and one version was a very tight crop of the two showing what a good man he was and that he was a man of god. The next crop was of him and a woman in the background conveying that they were together, this was used alongside a story about Kennedy being a womaniser etc and the final crop was a tight crop of him. Each crop was used to convey a particular message to the audience and with the use of cropping you can selectively choose what your audience sees and there for influence there views.

• Improve photographic composition or balance of an image - For this image I decided to crop the edges in and remove unnecessary parts from the image. I don't think the sides were adding anything to the image and they were just distracting from the action. When shooting this image I should have shot in portrait in hindsight to avoid having to crop. 

• Highlight or 'zoom' in on a particular aspect or subject matter within the image in order to create drama and or increase or add visual intensity to an image. - I chose a tight crop on the people in this frame to turn the focus to woman staring at the man rather than the reflection in the original photo. It looks as if the woman has stopped in front of a bus which adds some tension to the image and the man in the foreground is in the same stance and the man in the background on the crossing which I thought was interesting and another reason I chose this crop.

• Change the aspect ration and by doing so increase its visual weight, presence or import. -

1x1

I cropped this image in 1x1 because I felt that the people should be much more focused in the image. The original felt like you were peering into the action from a distance but with the crop I think you are placed closer to the subjects and seeing the mans facial expression leaves me wondering what exactly is happening. The girls seem to be holding there hands up for expression, I could imagine they were having fun but the man looks very serious and his arms are rigid. I wanted to show this in the photo and add an air of mystery.

5x7

I cropped this to remove the reflections from the window. I found these distracting and wanted to take any clues about the location out of the photo. I also think the lines look much cleaner and the steps lead you into the statue and the negative space on the left makes you notice the man in a very different pose to the statue.

16x9

I wanted to change the focus of this image from the general scene of the train and 3 subjects to a focused image of 2 subjects mainly the woman in the foreground who looks worried, which is a contrast to the young child on the bike who is leaving the train. 

• Change the focus of the image and by doing so control the eye of the reader of this image. - I decided to take the focus away from the ocean and focus on the cliff itself. I think the orange sky makes the lighthouse stand out and would leave the audience wondering where the ocean was in relation to the lighthouse and what time of day it was.

• Change the reading or intended message of the image simply by cropping. - I have tried to change the focus in this image from the woman outside to the child inside. By cropping out the sides it gives the illusion that you're right in the doorway peering inside and you've been met with the eyes of the young child. I would find my self questioning why she was alone when in fact from the original crop it's clear she is not.