Just like when you get a haircut, you can make photos look better by cutting them. It’s called “cropping.” Knowing what and when to crop can make the difference between a good photo and a great one.
Cropping gets rid of extra parts of a photo and focuses on what matters. There are a couple of different ways to crop a photo. The first is with the camera. The other is with image editing software like Adobe Photoshop Elements.
Crop with a camera
• Look through the viewfinder or LCD screen.
Here’s how to crop with the camera:
• Move closer to or farther away from the subject of the photo.
• If you need to, you can also use the “widen” or “tighten” feature.
• When you have the photo “framed” the way you want, take the picture by pressing down on the shutter release.
The #1 rule of cropping with a camera is to get close, and then get even closer to what you are taking a picture of. Look at any number of family snapshots and you’ll see why. Aunt Millie looks small and there’s lots of wasted space
on each side. Move closer for a tight portrait of Aunt Millie, that brings out her eyes and the life in her smile and you can create a photo with more impact and personality.
Crop with the computer
• Crop for interest. Whether you crop in the camera or later in software, focus on what really matters in the picture, and crop for that.
There are times when a picture needs more cropping. Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Photoshop Album can help you:
• Crop to fit standard print sizes. Make sure you’re getting the photo print you want by setting the image editor to standard print sizes. Doing so automatically crops some of the photo for you.
• Try unusual crop shapes. Wide panoramas and tall vertical shapes can make the right photo look great. Ovals, squares and circles can add life to a picture, too. As you get the hang of cropping, you see its power and want to try more things like tight portraits with the hair, chin and ears cropped out.
• Straighten crooked horizons. Sometimes a photo is crooked. You can crop to make it look straight.
• Don’t mess with success. If you’ve cropped the photo right the first time, resist the need to trim more. Sometimes leaving a photo alone is the best crop of all.
Composition 101
Finding a photo within a photo
All great pictures have one thing in common. They are well composed. There’s a balance to it. There’s just one thing that makes you want to stare at it forever.
• Pay attention to framing. Nothing ruins a photo faster than distracting elements in the background. Don’t get so focused on the photo’s subject that you ignore what else is going on around them. Watch out for poles, trees and power lines, and look all the way around the edges of the frame, asking “Is this what I really want?”
Composition — also called “framing” — is fun to talk about, because there is no right or wrong. The only rule is that there are no rules. But there are a few tips to help you take better pictures:
• Learn the Rule of Thirds. The human eye has its “visual center” and this is the place that it is naturally drawn to. Imagine the viewfinder is divided into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. This grid creates four points where the lines cross. For the greatest impact, place the subject where the lines intersect, instead of in the center of the frame.
• Every photo has a foreground and a background. How you want people to look at your picture tells you what to do with the foreground and background. To blur the background, zoom in close and choose a large aperture setting (like F2.8). This works really well for pictures of a person.
• Change your line of sight. Try kneeling, or even putting the camera on the ground. Or climb a flight of stairs so you’re higher than the subject you’re photographing. Digital cameras with twist and tilt LCD screens make it even easier. Changing angles provides a new way of seeing things, and makes for a more dramatic picture.
• Look for elements that lead the eyes through the photo. A winding path, a row of telephone poles or even a line of chairs at the beach can serve as elements in a good photo.
• Keep your eyes open for patterns. Interesting photos can be made of the waves and patterns created by drifting snow, a flock of birds flying in formation or pipes stacked at a construction site.
• Try getting in close. Look for texture, in the wrinkles of a face or the bark of a tree. Hands say a lot about a person. Pay attention to details.
• Cropping brings a photo to life. If you edit photos on the computer, you are no longer limited to the standard 4 x 6, 5 x 7 or 8 x 10 print sizes. Look at each photo and think about what you really want people to see. Then crop everything else away. Try some unusual shapes, like panoramas or narrow verticals.
Remember: variety is the spice of photography. Composition is only limited by your imagination. Experiment, have fun, and keep learning!
Taking great fireworks photos
Everybody loves fireworks. But they are hard to photograph. Even with the bright colorful light, the darkness of night presents a few challenges. With some planning and the right gear, you can have photos worth bragging about.
1. A tripod. To photograph fireworks, the camera’s shutter has to be open for one second or longer. That means the camera can’t move at all or else the picture will be out of focus. A tripod keeps the camera perfectly still.
What you’ll need…
2. A digital camera that has long shutter speeds. Shutter speed controls how long light is allowed into the camera. It is also known as “exposure.” The best fireworks pictures have an exposure time between 2 and10 seconds. If your camera doesn’t do that, try using the “nighttime” or “fireworks” features.
3. A digital camera with a self-timer. This isn’t mandatory, but it sure helps. Using the self-timer to activate the shutter release means that you won’t accidentally shake the camera as you press down on the shutter.
Taking a good picture…
• Low ISO is the way to go. The biggest enemy of fireworks photos is something called noise. It looks like tiny white or multi-colored dots when you print the picture. The longer the exposure, the more noise. If your camera lets you, pick the lowest ISO possible.
These tips can make a night of fireworks photography much more enjoyable:
• Choose the right aperture. Aperture — also called F-stop — makes or breaks a photo. It decides how much light is let into the camera. Like Goldilocks in search of the perfect bed, there is one aperture that’s just right. If it’s too big (such as F-2.8) all the light streaks turn white. If it’s too small (F-11 or F-22) the fireworks are hard to see. Use the camera’s LCD screen as a guide. You might need a different F-stop at the beginning, middle or at the end of the fireworks show.
• Be mobile. Fireworks shows look different from every angle. Try to predict where the best photos will come from. Take pictures from there. When you think you’ve got the pictures you want, move to a new location.
• Bring spare batteries. Taking pictures of fireworks uses a lot of special features that gobble up batteries fast. Make sure you have an extra set of batteries so you can keep taking pictures.
• Use long exposure noise reduction. If your digital camera has a noise reduction feature, use it! But be careful. It doubles your camera’s exposure time. In other words, if you shoot a 10 second picture, you can’t take photo for at least 10 more seconds.
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Great tips for taking a good picture. The main thing to remember is always to just take your time.