Images tell stories, and sometimes, just cropping an image can change the whole message. In this post, I’ll show how cropping improves the composition and highlights the emotions between couples more clearly.
The original image, while visually interesting with beautiful nature, lacked a clear focal point. Unnecessary background elements diluted the impact of the image.
At first, I thought about cropping just their faces with shoulders to create a more intimate composition. However, as I examined the image further, I noticed the man’s hands gently hugging the woman’s waist, which significantly enhanced the romantic feeling between them. This small yet powerful detail transformed the image’s meaning. Instead of merely being a beautiful photoshoot in a breathtaking natural location, the crop shifts the focus toward the emotions shared between the couple. The new composition removes excess space, ensuring that their embrace becomes the focal point while still following the rule of thirds. By un-centering the subjects and simplifying the background, the revised image creates a deeper emotional connection. Now, for me, this picture is more about love rather than a “mandatory love story photoshoot between two people in a cool place.”
Hi Akerke,
I find the way you cropped the image fascinating in how it dramatically changes the story the photo is conveying. The original creates a sense of mysticism, the with landscape and the fog being just as an important as the couple in terms of what you focus on when viewing the image. However, by cropping the image as you did you hone in on the intimacy of the couple, focusing on their relationship. Due to the dramatics of the scene around the couple, the original almost dials down their intimacy, but your crop captures that beautifully. I could easily imagine the original being used as the cover for an album, whereas your crop is telling a love story.
Because of the background I can envision that this photo could be cropped in numerous different ways. For example, I would love to see how it would look cropped so that the image still captures the length of her dress. You mention that the crop is off-centered, but at least to be me it still appears to be centered. I would want to play around with putting the couple more off centered to see how this affects the image. Using the rule of thirds I would be interested to see the effect of putting the man’s eyes level with where the lines meet on the grid in the top right section.
When citing the licenses for both the original and yours, it would be helpful to further clarify the type of licenses. For the original it would helpful to acknowledge that the image is licensed or free to use under Unsplash License and to provide a link directly to the license. For yours, I think the 4.0 may have just been left off the end accidentally.
I think you did a great job with the photo and changing the focus of the image, which then tells a different story than the original. Well done!
Hello Akerke! What a beautiful photo! I love the landscape and overall atmosphere of the original. There is so much you could play with here editing-wise, it’s easy to see why you chose it. I agree with your choice to crop the photo the way you did; it highlights the couples’ faces and asks the viewer to focus on the tender moment they are sharing, rather then the vastness of the beautiful landscape they’re standing in. Your crop still shows enough of the original background that the photo maintains its moody color palette and setting, while not allowing it to overshadow the couple. I would like to see what this photo would like like if the photo were cropped in such a way that the couple were not centered. I think you have a wonderful opportunity here to play with the aspect ratio, how much of the background to include, and where to position the couple in the frame.
Hi Akerke! First off, this is a stunning set of images. The cropped image evokes an entirely different emotion. The original image drew focus away from the couple due to how much fog and landscape was included. The cropped image pulled my focus immediately to the couple and their facial expressions. In the cropped image the viewer is able to see how in love and passionate they are. Another way this image could have been cropped is with the couple in the lower left corner of the rule of thirds lines. This would have kept some of the focus on the foggy almost, eery background. I love the choice you made with centering the couple.