The Original (Before):
I choose this image because it made me smile and it brought back a sense of lightheartedness. This toddler is clearly enjoying themselves and is caught mid-jump. My daughter is roughly the age of the toddler in this photo and also enjoys jumping on the bed (or couch, or dog bed) and every time she does I have a big smile on my face. This image is sweet, and soft in its color pallet and lighting, but could benefit from some slight enhancements.
The Derivative (After):
I played around with a few composition ideas, like cropping super tight to only the toddler’s feet (looked too creepy), and cropping tight to the toddler’s head (which lost the sense of whimsy not knowing they were jumping) before selecting this final version. I enhanced the original photo, by taking the toddler and adjusting him as the focal point to the left side of the image, per the rule of thirds, creating some more movement and intrigue in the photo. The higher crop removes the side walls from the photo which adjusts the sense of space in the room. Uncentering the toddler creates a sense of intrigue, is the toddler jumping towards something or someone on the other side of the bed? Will that person or pet catch them? The focus of the photo is clearly on the toddler with the tighter crop, and it’s easier to see that they are in mid-jump with less distraction from the room walls and pillow on the ground.
If I were to take a photo like this, say of my daughter jumping on our bed, I might play around with the angle of the shot, getting down low on the ground and snapping the picture from below, or snapping it straight on looking at her face as she’s jumping. These would be fun variations of this photo’s sentiment.
Hi Nicole! The starting image is really cute. It’s well-lit and feels comfy. I definitely feel like you maintained and enhanced those feelings with your crop!
The edit makes the eye follow the string lights right to the toddlers smiling face. It also makes the blue shirt he’s wearing pop against the neutrals/yellows of the background. The way the picture is cut now makes me feel like someone he loves is just out of frame. I didn’t have that thought looking at the original.
In the end, I think you chose the right place to crop compared to the other ideas you mentioned, though I’m curious to see what those edits would’ve looked like! Great job!
Hi Nicole! First of all, great choice of subject. He is so adorable! 🙂 The room looks very cozy, I think it is the choice of lights in the room. This is a really nice photo!
I love the cropping choice you picked for this. To me, it changed the focus as well as the story of the photo. Bringing in the focus of the photo gave me a chance to view the toddler even closer to view his face and see that he is really enjoying himself. It also gave me a sense that someone was grabbing his attention to stop him from jumping on the bed because with this closer view I can see his eyes are focused on something and it looks like his feet are the position to stop jumping. I have to say I would have cropped this photo in the same way. Great job!