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Cropping Images
When less is more...
The techniques
The sample images for these tutorials are available for download as a zipped folder.
Please note. The images in this tutorial section are for personal non commercial teaching use only. If you are a school or other public educational establishment, you may use them as long as you inform Northlight Images of the use. They may not be used in -any- other way without the express consent of Northlight Images - see our usage and copyright page for more information.
Feedback is always welcome! ---
Northlight Images also provides commercial photography training courses for businesses, including specialist Photography training for Estate Agents and for Product Photography.
Much of the real impact of an image can come from cropping what you start with, to emphasise a subject or activity. It is usually best to do this when you take the picture in the first place, but sometimes an alternate view comes to mind after you look at the captured image. The best example on this site is probably the beach at Shingle Street on the Home page.
Open the images Splash crop 1 and 2
Splash-crop1
Select the zoom tool (press the Z key as a short cut)
and zoom out to fit each image comfortably in the view. If the magnifying glass has a + symbol you will zoom in (image gets bigger) and if it has a - sysmbol you will zoom out (holding down the alt or opt key will change from + to -)
Now select the crop tool
Use it to select an area of the image
You can adjust this area (drag the corners and edges of the box) until you are happy with the image. Hit return and the crop is made.
Try the same thing with the second image.
Now look at the two images and notice differences in the way you cropped them. Try some images of your own and see how different crops change the overall 'feel' of the picture.
In this section you should have noticed how you can change the whole look of a picture with just a simple crop. Do bear in mind that as you cut away parts of your image you are limiting the maximum size you can realistically print at. The whole area of resizing and resampling images is discussed in another article.
The techniques
The sample images for these tutorials are available for download as a zipped folder.
Please note. The images in this tutorial section are for personal non commercial teaching use only. If you are a school or other public educational establishment, you may use them as long as you inform Northlight Images of the use. They may not be used in -any- other way without the express consent of Northlight Images - see our usage and copyright page for more information.
Feedback is always welcome! ---
Northlight Images also provides commercial photography training courses for businesses, including specialist Photography training for Estate Agents and for Product Photography.
Other areas of our site that may be of interest...
NEW -- Create your own customised A3 size wall calendar from a choice of 90 of Keith's images. Choose your own images for your own custom printed calendar - 12 months starting any month of the year - many all new images not yet in our main gallery.
Digital Black and White. Keith was recently interviewed about digital black and white photography for a magazine article. We have an expanded version here covering some of his thoughts, techniques and tips for those thinking of trying black and white.
As well as our Commercial Photography services and Training there is a growing collection of photography Articles and Reviews on the site aimed at helping you get the best out of your own photography. We also have a growing collection of Photography related information and links that we hope you find useful.
New site features and some of Keith Cooper's latest work are always covered in the What's New page.
Visiting Leicester or wondering where it is? We have views from the Leicester traffic cameras.