compositions

“A Man Riding a Horse in the Middle of a Field” by Cemrecan Yurtman on Unsplash

“Riding To Freedom” by Sinbad Adjuik, licensed under CC BY.

For Riding To Freedom, I was presented with a captivating image of a cowboy riding a horse against a breathtaking sunset backdrop. The original composition was a testament to the beauty of nature, yet I saw an opportunity to enhance it by focusing on the horse and rider and simplifying the background.
The original image was quite dynamic, but the subject was lost in the vastness of the background. There was a lot of empty space above the rider, and the horizon line felt too high. The background elements, while beautiful, detracted from the focus of the rider and horse in motion.
By cropping the image, I was able to bring the horse’s action and the rider’s silhouette into sharper focus, while also simplifying the background by removing excess sky. This adjustment allowed the dynamic elements of the image to stand out more, particularly the striking halo effect created by the sun behind the horse.
I also applied the rule of thirds, a fundamental principle in photography and design, to give the composition a more dynamic feel. Instead of centering the subject, I positioned the rider and horse off-center, along the imaginary lines that divide the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. This technique makes the image more natural and less static, enhancing the overall visual appeal.

This photo was taken during a visit to Devil’s Head at Lake Lure, North Carolina, roughly fifteen years ago. The original image featured the American flag prominently centered, surrounded by other visitors. While scenic, the composition felt unbalanced, with the right side appearing cluttered. To improve the image, I cropped it to showcase the stunning backdrop of Lake Lure. I also removed the congested area with visitors, allowing the flag to take center stage as it gracefully waves in the wind. To enhance the visual impact, I increased the vibrancy and saturation. This cropping technique effectively re-centered the focus, emphasizing the flag while eliminating unnecessary distractions.

“Bondi beach” by Francisco Schmidt. download from flickr 2.1.2025 CC BY-NC 2.0.

“Bondi City” by Kristopher DeMarco 2.1.2025 CC BY-NC 2.0

I chose to work with an image of Bondi Beach in Australia. The original photo captured the entire beach with wide open spaces and a busy scene. While the beach itself is beautiful, the photo felt cluttered and chaotic with so many different things going on. There was no clear focal point and it was hard to know where to focus your attention in the image.

In my cropped version, I made significant changes. Instead of trying to capture the whole beach, I zoomed in on the buildings along the shoreline. I opted for a panoramic crop, which allowed me to tighten the frame and cut out the crowded beach scene. This focus includes the water but cuts out all the people and beach scenes. This made the focus entirely on the city building, creating a more structured scene for the viewer.

I applied the rule of thirds in my crop, positioning the buildings along the left vertical line to draw the viewers attention directly to them. I also avoided a centered composition to create a more natural flow, guiding the viewer’s eye form the building to the water. This created a better senes of balance in the image. Another feature I incorporated was the use of negative space to draw the attention of the viewer to the city. I cropped out a lot of extra noise that was distracting. This simplified the background to focus the viewers eyes on the city.

This cropped image transformed the busy, overwhelming original image into something more intentional and balanced. It focused the viewer’s attention on the architectural beauty of the city and its relationship with the ocean.

While visiting California for the first time in 2019, I went to the beach and managed to snap this amazing view on my iPhone 8. The original photo (left) has several interest points:

• The paraglider at the center
• The blue tent at the very left
• A very faint boat in the background on the left
• Mountains on the right

While the original shows a general snapshot of your typical beach day, I wanted the story and focal point to focus on the paraglider. I cropped out the tent since it was sitting at the same depth as the paraglider, and its blue color was a bit distracting. Doing this balanced the photo and even brought the very distant boat into focus, adding a subtle but interesting detail to the background. I adjusted that same crop further by removing some of the sand at the bottom of the photo, allowing the paraglider to sit in the left and bottom third of the shot, and the horizon at the bottom third. The original photo had a slight slant, so I straightened the image using the horizon as reference for the 180 degree angle. Lastly, I slightly increased the saturation and contrast to liven up the reds and blues, and gently brightened the photo as well. This made the background mountains slightly more present, which helps with balance since the shoreline gets narrower on the right. To summarize, the cropping concepts featured in my derivative (right) are:

• Cropping to change/emphasize a focal point
• Cropping to leave out unnecessary details
• Following the rule of thirds

I hope you enjoy! I didn’t realize my “simple” beach photo contained so much depth and details until I dissected it for this assignment. Now I love it even more.

Like most parents my photos app is full of photos of my young son. Thousands of images representing moments in his young life, all trying to capture the fleeting moments of his childhood. While I love a posed image where he’s smiling and looking directly at my camera, though in full transparency I use my phone to capture more photos these days instead pulling out my DSLR camera, my favorite photos of him are the upstaged images, capturing moments that show his childlike awe and wonder at the world around him.

The original image was taken on an unseasonably warm autumnal day when we still lived in Wales as my son and I traipsed around Bute Park in Cardiff making the most of the weather. Due the weather some of the flowers in the park were still lingering, and my son at this age was literally always eager to stop and smell the flowers. While the I love the original image, especially the placement of his feet as he slowed from his typical pace of running to smell these flowers, I find by cropping the image to zoom in on him as well as by off centering him the image better highlights and exhibits his childlike wonder as he takes in the flower. To help obtain this sense of childlike awe I cropped the photo using the rule of thirds to ensure his eyes were the focal point the viewer would be drawn to. By cropping the photo it also elevates little details that may be missed in the original image, such as his dirty fingers from playing in the dirt moments before this image was captured. Cropping the image shows the magic of childhood in a sense, where the ordinary things adults often pass by become extraordinary in the fresh perspective of a child.

Additionally, I adjusted the color and brightness settings to accentuate my son and the flower instead of the green in the background.

My cat Lottie, who was 7 months old when this photo was taken, is a very laid-back cat until it’s time to play. In the original photo, you can see the background is very noisy and it’s a bit difficult to focus on what she is playing with. It looks like I had just come from school and changed my attire because my bookbag is on top of my dressing table, wide open, and my closet door is also open. It also looks like I recently opened a package, and the item inside was intended for Lottie to play with, so I sat on the floor to play with her.

In the edited photo, I minimized the background by first cropping out the noise utilizing the 1:1 Square preset. I utilized the “rule of thirds’, and positioned her in the right corner of the photo where it’s eye level for the viewers to have eye space when viewing my precious Lottie. I also wanted to highlight her beautiful coat pattern so I increased the brightness and reduced the contrast to bring out the white and ashy goldish/brown color her fur exuberates. Additionally, I adjusted the color balance to make her fur look even more vibrant and sharpened the image to bring out the details in her eyes and whiskers. I feel like this photo captures Lottie’s playful spirit perfectly. When Lottie gets in her “zone” to play with her favorite wand, I love how her pupils dilate. Not only do her eyes track the movement of the toy, but her head moves wherever it goes. I remember how she pounced on the toy with such enthusiasm, making me laugh and forget about whatever was going on at the time.

Beginning with a compelling, action-packed image from the Library of Congress’ “Mystery Photos” series, I wanted to see what I could create by further removing context. The image was originally published in this collection because its origin and historical context was unknown by preservationists. After some internet sleuthing, users determined that the image was taken in 1940 during the demolition of an apartment to secure the site of the future War Department Building in Washington DC.

For the purposes of this exercise, I’ve opted to eschew the context uncovered by users in favor of telling a new story through cropping. Removing the swarm of onlookers and second camera operator, I’ve highlighted a single figure as the new focal point. The new image is cropped tightly, creating a sense of intimacy and more immediate danger between the camera operator and the destruction in the distance, which is increasingly foregrounded through the cropping.

In the new image, viewers might imagine the figure as the sole witness of the destruction. Is he far enough away to stay safe? Taking it a step further, reducing the image to a single onlooker creates a sense of cause and effect. To what degree is the figure responsible for the destruction? They don’t call it shooting footage for nothing…

*Full Library of Congress title: Apartment building blasted to make room for War Department building. Washington D.C. Mar 20–what looks to be a photo from Europe is in reality a photograph taken in Washington this morning when a 9-story building was blasted down to make room for the new $4,300,000 war department building. The blast was so neatly placed in the concrete and steel building that it gently folded up like an accordion and collapsed. Photo shows movie photographers as they filmed the scene

Former title: Motion picture cameramen filming on top of cars, the demolition of the Boulevard Apartments at 2121 New York Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.

Though the original photo is bright, fun, and colorful, it lacks focus. Because the image provides a full, rich background, my subject risks not being the center of attention. Since the eye is naturally drawn to the center of the image, where the infamous Epcot Ball is cradled between two rainbows, I decided to crop this original photo to emphasize a new focal point. 

In the cropped image, the changes –though seemingly small– does impact the overall composition. The change in focal point allows the eye to focus solely on the Epcot Ball with little to no competition. I’ve also opted to simplify the background by cutting out unnecessary “white space”, eliminating the excess amount of blue sky and garden railing. At first, I was worried the people in the background would make the photo still appear busy, but I believe it adds a subtle dose of reality to the image overall–humanizing the experience of the location. I also think uncentering the Epcot Ball aided in elongating the photo, creating a more artistic appeal. 

I took this original photo of my gorgeous cat, Honey. While she looks beautiful, the image has a lot of distracting background. You can see my messy living room on one side and the edge of Honey’s cat tree on the other. Additionally, Honey is in almost the dead center of the image. 

By cropping, I brought Honey’s eyes up to the top third of the image to bring her to eye level. I also removed the unnecessary details. Finally, I also uncentered the subject, and brought Honey a little more to the right to make the image more visually interesting. This makes use of the negative space on the other side of her. It looks like she is intently looking out and this leaves her space to do so and raises the question of what she was looking at.

In addition to the cropping, I turned up the saturation and vibrance to make her beautiful orange pop. I also turned up the shadows a little bit to cast the background into darkness. This focuses the viewer on Honey, as she is the real star of the show.