For this assignment, I chose to work with a photo I had taken a while back of my son, Gabe, at the beach.
In the original photo, there are several issues to fix. For example, there is an extraneous woman walking in the background. The focal point, my son, is nearly centered in the image, and you can’t tell what he is looking at in the water (you can see something, but it looks like a floating object or buoy). There is way too much sand in the foreground, and even though Gabe was walking, the image feels static and boring, with little emotion.
In the cropped image, Gazing at Papa, I followed the Rule of Thirds, placing the focal point off center, and giving Gabe room to move in the frame. I removed the extra foreground and background, zooming in so you can tell he is actually moving toward a person in the water–his dad, who has been snorkeling.
My favorite thing about the derivative photo is that you can see a determination in the set of Gabe’s shoulders, and even a movement in his gait, that was not noticeable in the original shot. Gabe is gazing out at his papa and walking purposefully to join him in the water.
I love how much this changes the story of the image. I think the original conveys a certain “smallness compared to the ocean”, but the edited image definitely shows the determine of your son walking toward his dad. There is definitely an intent there that gets lost in the original.
Less a critique and more a thought, I would’ve considered leaving in more sand along the bottom of the frame. Focusing more on your son highlights his determination, but as an additional element to the story, more sand along the bottom may convey the distance he has already gone.
Awesome work!
Hi Cristina,
Your cropped image definitely changes the meaning! When I first saw the original, I noticed how busy it was and I honestly thought Gabe was just standing there looking at the ocean. I didn’t even notice the tiny black dot of “Papa.” Yet, when you cropped it, it was very obviously a different story. I could visualize the sand falling off Gabe’s feet and hear the sand smooshing as he walked. I appreciate that he’s off-center because it allows the frame to breathe and receive his forward motion. It isn’t so much a critique, but I think the drastically different images would have a stronger effect if side-by-side. I think you could have also cropped him more to the left of the frame, which would have created a stronger sense of distance between him and his dad. Overall, absolutely wonderful job!
Hi Cristina! Overall, I thought you did a lovely job on this assignment. Ultimately, I think the way you cropped and edited your photo created a photo that came across as intentional and focused. By cropping the extraneous woman, uncentering your son, and editing the foreground, your photo really came to life! The photograph seemed more purposeful and as you touched on in your response, less static. In the after you can really tell your son is walking and what he is walking towards. Great job!
Hey Cristina!
I think you did a great job choosing this picture for the assignment. I believe you did a great job in cropping out the unnecessary details from the picture, I agree with you that there was a lot of sand in the foreground in the original picture. You used the Rule of Thirds perfectly and brought the focus of the image to your son. Great job!