Jane Barrager

Boat Ride in Tampa

The original photo is a picture I took during a boat ride in Tampa. The original picture is nice however I wanted to capture more of the ocean and sun than I did the sky. Cropping this picture changed the focal point and made me able to focus on the things that I wanted to see. I normally try not to crop images because I am always afraid I’ll accidentally get rid of something important in the background.

The Mirage

The After Photo

“Long Walk to Water” by Jessica Maya is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. 

I found it challenging to find a suitable picture that could tell a different story when following the rule of thirds. This exercise really made me think outside of the box. I went through so many pictures but only very few that could give me what I was looking for. In the original photo seen below, the people are the focal point of the image…so is the water and the sun. Cropping the image the way I did makes the image look like there is no water for miles hence the name “Long Walk to Water.” The original could very well be two people walking on the bank of a lake. They look almost like they are from the west with the woman behind having a handbag on her shoulder. Whereas the derivative I made looks like they are in the desert.

Original Photo

“Sunset People” by agelakis is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Say Cheese!

Original Image

Daim @ Parc animalier de la Grande Jeanne @ Semnoz
Daim @ Parc animalier de la Grande Jeanne @ Semnoz by Guilhem Vellut is Licensed under CC BY 2.0

Cropped Image

Day out at farmland by Saleh Ahmed is Licensed under CC BY 4.0

The original image shows two deer being surprised by a photographer during mealtime. The expression of the deer on the left shows a pronounced expression of surprise, while the other deer looks calmer and less animated. I wanted to crop the image on the left to see if the emotion conveyed by the image changed.

The rule of thirds was applied to the second image. The image was cropped at eye level, and unnecessary details were removed to simplify the image and increase focus on the subject of the image. However, some surrounding area adjacent to the subject was still left to give more context to the image.

Interestingly, the new image tells a different story all together. Instead of the deer being surprised by the presence of the photographer or disrupted in their mealtime, the image feels more relaxed and casual. The deer appears to be enjoying some alone time, engaging in his usual activities, unfazed by the intruder.