Cropping

[faustus]

Take this picture.



I do like it, as an attempt to capture a certain quality of light on a building in the mid distance. The lines on the buildings draw you in to the centre of interest, and on the left hand side two street signs (giving you location) and the column heading vertically off screen.

It was early evening, it was the festival, there were people and traffic. Right hand side of the frame I have a bus and a head - the latter not distinct enough to be a substitute for us as viewers. The image can be tidied, by cropping. Here are a number of attempts.



We've lost the right hand side of the picture, and with it the row of chimney pots which I rather liked. There's less building to draw you in, but still some. On the other hand, I think the traffic light becomes too prominent.



Here are the chimney pots back, and more of a sense of the sky, but perhaps now the dome is isolated. I'm probably breaking the law of thirds, but the diagonals don't fit those.



This is a wider looking image, has cut down the sky, and I think here the street luight on the building to the left is most prominently pointing to the dome. The dome occupies the bottom two thirds of the middle third of the picture.

These has been crops which maintain the right hand side of the picture, with minor cuts. But a more radical chop could be made.



To my mind, though, this becomes about height rather than depth: the chunky column vs the delicate dome. It's a balance. Finally, lose the left hand side:



The dome is now more dominant, and fills the middle third of the picture. There's a light contrast between tower and dome, but I'm not sure about the traffic light becoming so prominent and there's another crop to remove that. A crop too far perhaps.

The question is - which is the best of these? The first crop probably does what I wanted best, but the second is more pleasing to me if I ignore my original plan.

Comments

[buffysquirrel.livejournal.com]

I think I prefer the first one, but if the last one had a little more sky above the dome, that would be my favourite :).

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I like the penultimate one -- before removal of column -- though the richness of the sky comes out more in the last one.

[pennski.livejournal.com]

Of all the crops, I like the last one best. The traffic light being black blends into the dark foreground for me (but that might just be the new glasses).

I did like the chimney pots though.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Penultimate one, though the widescreen one is nice too. The pillar with the street sign is dark and heavy which provides a nice contrast with the dome and its golden light and its floatingness. Also the light is picking out the gold lettering which echoes the golden light on the dome. The weight of the RHS drives the eye towards the left and the more distant focus very effectively.

I think the last one is very weak; the original with head and bus is better.