A few years ago, I was asked to take some promo shots of my husband’s band at this really beautiful wedding in Simmesport, Louisiana. The band had also asked me to get some shots of people dancing and enjoying the music, in which I had no problem doing at all! Most of the dancing took place on this boardwalk you see in the picture above. The band started playing a slow song, and the mother and father of the bride took to the dance floor, and I was able to capture this lovely moment between the two of them.
I thought I was being clever trying to get the band playing while the couple was dancing, but I remember being in a very awkward spot trying to get the photo. Plus there was a bunch of people at the end of the boardwalk, and did not want to get in the actual wedding photographer’s way! However, when I look back at the original picture, my eye has no where to go. There’s also nothing in the forefront, and everything is on one plane. Personally, I think having the band in the background (no offense to them, they’re amazing!) takes away from the moment. Cropping the band out gives the photo a little more depth. It also tells a different story about the couple. With the band, it looks like they are definitely dancing, but without, it looks like she may have found out some good news, or maybe he just told her something sweet.
Hi Jordan! Your cropped picture has undoubtedly made the focus more prominent! Just as you said, such cropping shifts the perception from feeling like they were dancing with the band to them embracing and whispering sweet nothings to each other. This approach was very clever! Following your idea, another cropping method could be to only leave the band in the frame, altering the meaning to a group of fun individuals joyfully playing music, and leaving it to the audience’s imagination to figure out where they might be performing. For a little suggestion, since they were quite close to the left edge of the frame, making the right side appear somewhat empty, perhaps cropping a bit more of the right space to achieve a Medium Shot might enhance the effect!
Hi Jordan,
This is such a beautiful interpretation of the assignment and I really feel like the cropping made this scene more intimate and showed the love that the mother and father of the bride clearly shared. The wide image goes from being people enjoying your husband’s band playing to a couple enjoying one another’s presence and being in each other’s embrace. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
Another way that this image could be cropped would be focusing on the performers, letting the audience decide what the occasion is and what music they might be performing. It leaves it to the imagination of the audience.
Hi Jordan! The cropping you’ve done here brings our focus to the beautiful couple and also gives the photo a timeless effect. By cropping out the band, you erase the background “noise” and the image changes to highlight the happy sunlight and peaceful waters. I love the idea that the couple could be sharing an embrace instead of dancing. It almost seems like she is running to him, and he is catching her. My only suggestion would be to include a bit more of the boardwalk in your crop to highlight that motion of her running to embrace him. Beautiful work!