For the last couple of summers, I have raised monarch butterflies. From May to September, I hunt for monarch caterpillars to move inside and take care of. My goal is to further the population of monarchs and limit exposure to OE (a deadly parasite that causes defects, lack of flying capabilities, and even death). This past summer was the first time my daughter, Catherine, could understand the concept of Bradley Miller’s quote, “Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child, as it is to the caterpillar.” I ended up teaching her a lesson about the butterfly life cycle for her and she was amazed!
For context, I don’t think there was anything wrong with the original, but the balance was off because the caterpillar isn’t focused. When I originally took it, I was so focused on her love and care for the caterpillar and the other photos from that day focus intentionally on the caterpillar crawling on her hand. However, her eyes spoke differently to me when I looked at it through the lens of this assignment. Thus, I cropped it this way to focus on the sense of wonder in her eyes. She was learning, experiencing a new “thing,” pointing out all of the butterfly stickers on our back porch, etc. – it was a moment to hold on to. I hope she never loses that sense of wonder, and I hope to remain a witness of all the moments that take her breath away.
For this assignment, I was inspired to crop her into a different position in the frame. I wanted to focus on her emotion and use the rule of thirds to mark the twinkle in her eye as the focal point. She is also uncentered, which helps build ambiguity of what she’s looking at above. Finally, I took out all of the background so she is the sole focus of the image.
At the end of everything, it was no longer about the caterpillar, but rather about what the caterpillar had done for my child.
Hi Erin – Both of these are great, before and after, but I agree the before pic had too many focal points and the eye wasn’t sure where to go. In the cropped version, focusing on Catherine’s beautiful face, you really do get a sense of her excitement and wonder in that moment. I like the way you used the rule of thirds to highlight her eyes and place her slightly off-center. The only thing I may have done differently would be to crop it a little further out, allowing some more space in the frame, but I think it’s beautiful the way it is. Great job!
You did an excellent job taking the photo, cropping it, and explaining your reasoning. The lighting on your daughter’s face is fantastic and I think your new focus really helps bring out her eyes since some of the green in the background is cut in your edited shot.
I wish there was a little more contrast between her face and the window/background. Some of the detail gets washed out since her hair is so light. I agree with Cristina’s comment that pulling back slightly on the crop might have added a little more space in the frame for it to breath.
Awesome work and what a great photo/memory to have forever!
Hi Erin! You did an excellent job on our Cropping Media lab! The before photo is such a lovely photo and I can’t believe it was taken on an iPhone. I really like how the colors on the shirt don’t clash with the colors in the background. But the way you cropped it really provided a brand new story as your commentary suggests. I also like how you specifically discussed her eyes/the look in her eyes and how just cropping and uncentering changed the focus to learning and experiencing new things.
The only other way I have thought to crop your photo is by focusing on the caterpillar and telling a story about the caterpillar or from the caterpillar’s point of view. You really picked a great photo for this assignment! You had multiple options but I like what you selected best.
Additionally, the formatting and aesthetics of your blog post are brilliant as usual!
Hi Erin! I liked the picture you chose to edit. I agree with you that the first picture had nothing wrong with it but I believe even when the caterpillar was not in focus it was able to draw attention to itself. The cropping did a great job in creating a new version of the picture, I can see the joy in your daughter’s eyes, and I believe the eyes tell a lot about how she was euphoric and excited after holding the caterpillar! I think this picture was a great example to experiment on.