What’s Your Preference?

plangereis · #1 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 05:38 AM

Hi again. After you all helped me decide on Creative Solitude for my last comp entry, I began to question the composition after one poster mentioned that the lady was not obvious at first. This brought up the idea of cropping, which I deliberated via messages with Steve today. The main question that came into my mind was:

Will cropping remove the negative space that lends to the idea of solitude?

Will removing most of the rock on the lower left corner remove the edge of the rock that reflects the line of the woman;s back? (Does this emphasize the woman?)

I then played with the image in post to try to enhance/ isolate the woman in the photo, and increase contrast slightly. Please let me know which you think is the strongest photo compositionally, and lends to the idea of solitude the best.

Here are the following:

original

slight crop

tighter crop

Your help on this one is very appreciated as I have been agonizing over the right approach all day!

Thanks for the help.

Paul

JuiceZA · #2 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 06:12 AM

After seeing all three photos in a row, I think that the rock must go! It looks much better out of the picture and the composition improves quite a bit. #3 it is, I think.

mpascal · #3 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 07:01 AM

For me its still the first one, as it shows the solitude, personally would have preferred to have her more to the front and lots of space behind and around her. Hope this helps. Remember its your decision, all these comments can be confusing. So just choose your fav and go with it. Best of luck.

Michael

plangereis · #4 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpascal

For me its still the first one, as it shows the solitude, personally would have preferred to have her more to the front and lots of space behind and around her. Hope this helps. Remember its your decision, all these comments can be confusing. So just choose your fav and go with it. Best of luck.

Michael

Quote:

Originally Posted by JuiceZA

After seeing all three photos in a row, I think that the rock must go! It looks much better out of the picture and the composition improves quite a bit. #3 it is, I think.

Thanks for your replies to this troubling process I am going through. After reading mpascal's comment I tried a slightly different crop. I cropped the rock out a little, but included as much of the background as possible to bring the woman forward in the shot. This way you can see the suggestion of the open ocean, and I am thinking it creates a more isolated/ solitude feel (I hope).

mpascal · #5 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 01:17 PM

I like it, your last selection is my favourite, she is now the focus and the image goes on to infinity with the ocean in the background. Let's see what the others think.

Michael

martha36 · #6 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 01:57 PM

I was going to say the first one in the series of three because I think that best conveys the solitude, although she does get a little lost. But that fourth picture you added nails it, I think. If it were my photo, I'd probably mess around even more with the contrast to isolate her, but that's just a look I personally prefer.

bascott · #7 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 02:14 PM

I like your new crop the best! I think it captures best what you are trying for.

fstopMike · #8 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 02:32 PM

I like the last one the best (#4, the newest crop). The rock in the foreground was a bit of distraction, so I think it looks better with less of it showing. You've also opened up more space behind her which adds to the feeling on solitude. I imagined it with the tighter crops, but it's more evident with your last crop.

plangereis · #9 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpascal

I like it, your last selection is my favourite, she is now the focus and the image goes on to infinity with the ocean in the background. Let's see what the others think.

Michael

Quote:

Originally Posted by martha36

I was going to say the first one in the series of three because I think that best conveys the solitude, although she does get a little lost. But that fourth picture you added nails it, I think. If it were my photo, I'd probably mess around even more with the contrast to isolate her, but that's just a look I personally prefer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bascott

I like your new crop the best! I think it captures best what you are trying for.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fstopMike

I like the last one the best (#4, the newest crop). The rock in the foreground was a bit of distraction, so I think it looks better with less of it showing. You've also opened up more space behind her which adds to the feeling on solitude. I imagined it with the tighter crops, but it's more evident with your last crop.

Thanks everyone for the time to comment and help me on this one. Without Michael's suggestion I would not have even considered adding more background, let alone the horizon line in the upper right corner. This is what makes this site so fantastic. Everyone's feedback has really forced me to question my initial intentions, and evaluate composition in a more open manner. Again, thank you so much everyone from this thread and the other three threads. I can relax on this one now! Hooray!