My boyfriend and I attended the Orange Bowl this past year, in which FSU was unfortunately demolished by UGA. I won’t bore you with all the silly football drama that preceded this game—let’s just say, we were fairly confident that FSU would lose, but we decided to go and support the team anyway.
Given the circumstances, my boyfriend wasn’t exactly in the highest of spirits as we made our way into the stadium. I snapped the original photo of him, which I’ve deemed “Orange Bowl Escalator Ride,” to capture the silly near-pout on his face while we rode the escalator to the third floor.
I considered several different approaches to cropping the the photo for this assignment. I knew off the bat that I wanted to emphasize his expression, so I would need to cut out some of the noise. On the one hand, I knew it would be a good idea to cut out the parking lot; on the other, I liked the interesting lines created by the overhang and his arm, as well as the greenery. I realized pretty quickly that I couldn’t get rid of one and keep the others without centering the subject or cutting the photo off too close to his face.
In the end, I opted to shift the subject to the right of the photo and crop out as much of the parking lot as I could without cutting off the top of his head; this also helped to bring the subject to eye level. I also cropped his outstretched arm, but stopped at the elbow of his other arm to avoid boxing him in too much.
I’m pretty happy with the result, which I’ve deemed “Pre-Orange Bowl Blues”; I think it emphasizes the anticipation of defeat on his face, while maintaining some context clues like his FSU hat, jacket, and foam finger. I also like that it kind of gives the illusion that he’s gazing down at the crowd of fans in their own jerseys. With this crop, I believe I was able to touch on the following concepts:
- Crops to change or emphasize a focal point
- Leaves out unnecessary details (simplifies the background)
- Un-centers a subject
- Ensures that humans are cropped at eye level
- Leaves some room to move for moving objects/people
- Crops for emotion
Hi Leesa,
At first glance, I wasn’t convinced you had changed much of the story with your crop. After reading through your post, I now understand the new narrative you had created. From this crop, you’ve created this sort of optical illusion of your boyfriend looking down on the other spectators, knowing they too were showing up for an already-lost game. His emotion is a lot more emphasized with this crop, which I wouldn’t have resonated with so strongly in the original photo. While I don’t know much about football, I do understand going into something with a downtrodden feeling. Because the image is already so close to the subject, I’m not really sure what to suggest as a different crop. Perhaps if the photo had been taking at a different angle, there would be a greater opportunity for another story. Overall, this is a great crop that successfully emphasizes the emotion your boyfriend felt going into the game.
Great post, Leesa! I identify with your boyfriend’s mood before getting thoroughly destroyed by Georgia. Although I maintained a sliver of optimism before things got underway, your boyfriend already knew how things were going to play out. It’s unfortunate how FSU’s season turned out, but I commend you both for being such loyal fans. The crop and positioning worked well, and I agree with your assessment that there are still enough context clues to help determine what’s happening. The only thing you can’t discern is that you appear to be going up the stairs/escalator in the first photo, and in the second photo, you can’t tell. It could be that he’s pouting after the game, or perhaps you’re both leaving after the first quarter now. Either way, great work!
Leesa,
I watched the Orange Bowl in Pennsylvania with my father, who is an alumnus from 1980. We had the same emotions running through out house as you did!
This crop is effective because there is mystery as to which platform he’s peering from. I think a second option (which would still include the foam finger, but not the elbow he’s leaning on) would be to focus on the upper right-hand corner before the crop. That would completely eliminate the parking lot while focusing on the fellow fans on the escalator. The crop as you have it certainly focuses on his expression and conveys his emotion effectively!