Karate Crop

[Iguanasan]

Help! I'm not so much looking for critique as advice. I'm trying to figure out the best way to crop this shot. Any advice would be appreciated.

From Drop Box

Model: Canon PowerShot SX110 IS
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/25 sec
Aperture: 2.8
Focal Length: 6mm
Flash Used: No

[barabe]

It is a dificult thing to crop the way we want it to be. I would try different crops and then decide wich one i would keep.
I noticed you have a fairly long exposure that creates movement. was that intentional for movement or was it because of lighting contraints.
I have seen a few pro shots of that kind and it is fun to see facial expression of the fighters to show intensity and pain, right now we cannot see that.

[AnnetteJ]

Well, for a start you can lose most of that blue mat in the foreground, it does nothing but distance the viewer from the subject. Having decided that you need to make other decisions, such as do you want to preserve a 'normal' aspect ratio for printing/framing or will any crop that looks good do because it is for viewing on a screen or printing at home etc where that is not an issue? It also depends how good the resolution is, how tight a crop you can make before you lose quality, which again partly depends on how you want to use the pic, for printing you need to retain 300dpi I think, for screen viewing again that depends if it is for a website and will be quite small, or if you want to fill the screen with it. The most dramatic crop will be a very tight one which contains just the fighters and loses all the surroundings including the judge. If that loses too much quality or if you need to keep the judge then try to lose the door, crop just behind the judge but not cutting bits off him, probably keeping the smaller basketball hoop but losing the row of banners. If you want to keep the row of banners because they are meaningful in the story that's fine, I'd try a crop just behind the larger basketball hoop and maybe a little off the left as well. Or try a portrait crop keeping in the fighters and the banners above them. Don't crop so tightly the fighters have no 'room to move', do lose most of the blue mat. Barabe is also right to just play around yourself trying different crops and see what works, that's how we learn, by trial and error, as long as you keep a separate copy of the original so you don't accidentally ruin it! Undo is your friend as well! Hope this helps.

[kencaleno]

Like this:

[Iguanasan]

Thanks for the input. I guess it was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be so I'm glad I asked. Really, it seems to be all about what kind of story do you want to tell or how important certain bits of information are to the story. I guess I kinda thought there was a few magic rules that would pick the best crop.

Thanks again for the help. I'll play with it and see what I end up with.

[Valkaria]

I have learned about the rule of thirds, which is some kind of trick like technique to make a photo attractive: put the things you want people to notice on 1/3 (or leaning against the 1/3 line) of one or both sides of the photo. It has been proven that people's eyes tend to go to the areás where the lines of thirds cross. The heads of the boys (vertically ) and the body of the judge (horizontally) are on thirds. To me the photo looks much more 'dynamic' now, pointing out that the judge is looking at them, emphasizing the competition element (sorry if I'm ranting lol). the basketbal hoop is also on 1/3, not because you want it to be noticed but I think it helps lead the eye to the action below it.

i personally like the photo cropped just with the two boys nice action shot!!!

[SandeeWig]

When I first considered the crop I thought having the referee looking on with the two boys would be the way to go, as Valkaria envisioned. However, for me, the basketball goal is rather distracting and would probably be a challenge to clone out. You might be able to blur the background enough to minimize how distracting it is if that's the crop you prefer.

I do like the crop Ken did with just the two boys. The movement in the shot definitely displays the action going on.

Nice capture!

[Iguanasan]

After playing with it quite a bit I decided on this one.



What's almost embarrassing about this shot is how I got it. I'd like to tell you all that I'm an action photographer that anticipated the moment but I can't. Truth is, I thought my camera was in video mode and I hit the shutter to start recording a video of the match which had just started when the fellow on the left picked up his foot and dropped it on his opponent (otoshi geri). Bam! The shutter went and here I am!

Thanks for the advice!

[wulf]

I tend to crop to one of a few standard formats:

1:1 (square)

4:3 (used to be the ratio used on computer monitors, although widescreen is becoming more popular)

3:2 (familiar from 6" x 4" and similar format photos)

16:9 (cinematic letterbox)

1:2 (very long and thin)

That's already more than enough to play with (especially when you also add in the portrait versions - 2:3, etc). Pick one of those and try and find two or three different crops. Now try the same format but portrait instead. Already you'll have plenty of options and you can start asking yourself which you prefer. How does it frame your subject? Are there any annoying details in the background you would rather lose?

After a while, you start to get a feel for what you find appealing but a relatively mechanical exercise like this can help a lot if you then link it into developing your aesthetic taste.

Wulf