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To crop or not ?

In practical condition while shooting many times it is not possible to frame your subject as one is visualizing the shot. There may be number of reasons like the situation doesn't permit, limitation of lens zoom, the shortage of time etc. My best advice to novice photographer always is take a breath & stop for 1 second before pressing the shutter button on the camera. After that do the followings:

1. Look along all the corners & frame of your viewfinder & think once is it all ok?
2. Whatever they are seeing want in the frame or not?
3. Is any change in angle is going to avoid background distractions?
4. Is any change is going to avoid exposure problems like bright sky?
5. Is any change is going to give you more contrast with subject?
6. Is your Point of view is Ok with the subject?

.... & much more can be asked. It comes with practice & practice. A beginner may ask like how can I see all that in 1 second? It comes with practice & until then you can breath more before clicking :)



But what if you didn't able to shoot as you were planning? In such cases cropping is the key. I am very particular about cropping the images & everyone should be. There are number of reasons for cropping your images like:

1. It helps to improve your compositions by cutting down unnecessary areas.
2. Add a new element to the image, making your subject interesting.
3. Avoid background distractions.
4. Placing the graphical elements in the image in neat order & much more.



There are number of rules suggesting how to crop or not. But don't hesitate to break such rules unless your composition is strong enough. You may see in my number of images I cropped out chin in my portrait shots & I don't think I have done anything wrong with the subjects. It helps me to place my subject engaged with viewers until they forget about cropped chin. The images in this blog are showing such examples.



Hope you like the images & small tips about framing & cropping. I will like to add more about cropping may be in next blog. Enjoy shooting & cropping :)

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