Wrigley Field Flyover by Hussein Tajeddine Sleiman
This past summer, when I took my first ever trip to the Midwest with visiting Chicago, my friend, a Chicago native and huge Cubs fan invited me out to attend a game. This is an image that I was able to capture moments before the whistles were blown to start the game. With this image, we can focus on one subject and that is the plane. Being at the center of the image, it helps to capture a moment of patriotism as the plane flewover right after the United States national anthem was played.
Closeup of Flyover at Wrigley Field by Hussein Tajeddine Sleiman
As you can tell from the original image, there was signage to the left side from the ballpark itself that was distracting and taking away from looking at the focal point of the image. By cropping it the way I did, my intent was to take out the signage from the picture and emphasize the plane. Now the viewer is able to really just look at the plane as it is the only subject within the image itself.
I believe I was able to touch on the following cropping concepts in my derivative image:
Crops to Change or Emphasize a Focal Point
Leaves out unnecessary details (simplifies the background)
“Us: The Barbershop Edition” by Latasha Harrison is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Image altered by cropping.
In 2019, the genius Jordan Peele gave us the masterpiece titled Us. For those who haven’t watched it, it is about a family coming into contact with their doppelgangers and being hunted by them. If you haven’t watched this movie, I highly recommend it; my short synopsis is not doing it justice.
So imagine my surprise when I saw this picture, which pulled me back to when I first experienced the film. This picture shows a happy barber probably enjoying his clients’ company before his next appointment. But when I looked in the mirror, it seemed like the same person was reaching out to engage someone in conversation with a handshake. It looks like two separate people in their own worlds because of the camera angle, but it is just this one person present. In order to bring what I saw to life, using the rule of thirds, I used a simple crop to focus more on the reflection in the mirror. Now the story in the image has changed from a barber having fun with his old clients and switching to the same barber meeting someone for the first time and building new relationships with these clients.
I would like to hear from you about your thoughts! Share in the comments what ideas come to mind when looking at the image. Would you crop it a different way to tell another story? If so, share! 🙂
German castles are some of the most unique structures in the world. The ability to carve them into the side of a mountain or bring materials up to a remote mountain peak long before paved roads is certainly impressive. This photo is one example of the engineering feat. Nothing is wrong with the original as I believe the photographer was trying to capture the natural beauty the castle is surrounded by along with demonstrating the shear size of the structure. However, this photo is a lot to process with much detail everywhere. The main structure is centered in the middle of the frame with nothing specific focused on the one third. Also, there is a tourist on the left side of the frame which slightly takes away from the all natural feel.
In my crop, I decided to focus in on the details of the main structure, specifically the high contrast, tall, white lookout tower. This allowed my eyes to easily focus on something in the frame and see closer details of all the other structures. To crop this photo, I used the one third rule emphasizing my focal point on the white tower. This uncenters the photo and also simplifies some of the background as my focus was the tower and not the whole castle. Though you lose the mountain top feel, you can more easily see the large door protecting the castle on the bridge along with the ability to raise that bridge for protection. The ability to view these smaller details was the result of a tighter crop and high resolution photo.
The photo I chose to crop is a picture that I took of my cousin Minkah Merritt and my sister Olivia Jones. This photo was taken in January 2019 in Statesboro, GA where I was born.
I decided to pick this photo for our Media Lab 3 composition exercise because it is super special to me. Why you ask is this photo so special to me? First off, I took the photo and second it is special because of the fury four-legged Shih Tzu posing at the bottom of the picture named Nori. My 1st cousin Minkah and my sister are also super special to me but as far as this picture is concerned it is all about Nori.
The original photo has a large red piece of furniture in the frame and the right half of the picture shows way too much of the hallway and open door which is not essential to the picture. The picture does have Nori who posed perfectly on cue with everyone else in the photo.
The cropped photo has better composition. The red piece is no longer in the photo and you now have a beautiful photo of Minkah, Oliva and Nori. Also, I used the rule of thirds to center everyone on the left of the frame while cropping out a lot of the hallway and open door that was on the right of the frame. The cropped photo has much better composition and makes for a great family picture!!
In March of 2019, my sister and I had the opportunity to travel with our church to Washington, DC. During our visit, we toured the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, a 30-foot-high statue that honors the life and legacy of Dr. King. Dr. King fought for freedom, equality, and justice.
The before photo below is a picture of that cold day in Washington while sightseeing at the MLK memorial. The resolution of the photo is not the best, but I wanted to use this photo because of the impact it had on me that day. History came alive to me on that day. That day I thought about the struggles my grandparents faced while growing up in the 1960’s and how Dr. King and other civil rights leaders gave them hope for a better world. That day also taught me to Keep my eyes on the prize which is to dream of a world where freedom and equality will be granted to all.
The focal point of the photo is the MLK memorial; however, you have a lady on the left walking and other distractions in the background. This photo could use better composition.
I used PhotoPea to crop the photo. Although I really hate the resolution, the cropped photo now has the focal point on the MLK Memorial which towers over my sister and I as we reflect on the life and legacy of Dr. King. The cropped photo is better composition and creates a more powerful photo.
Oh that kiss! R2D2’s head begins to spin around and around. C3PO looks down at his little friend and says, “R2, I believe you have a girlfriend.” Just one kiss, started my Berriprincess’s love affair with the most adorable droid out there. And her love didn’t fade even though her path didn’t cross with R2 again for several years. But she drew pictures and decorated her room with her love. She wore R2 decorated t-shirts and dresses to show her affection. She even carried around a R2D2 purse. Of all the droids in the galaxy, she remained devoted to her beloved even while they were worlds apart.
Then one day, a few years later in the early spring, Berriprincess and her brother visited a spaceport called, “Hollywood Studios” where they learned of the Millennium Falcon’s arrival. Dare she hope that her lost love was onboard? Wading through the crowd, they managed to find Luke and Leia, and yes, R2D2 was still with them! Berriprincess’s brother greeted these old friends and began asking Luke how he might train to be a Jedi. While the boys were engaged, Leia tried to make polite communication with our Berriprincess.
Although the marketplace was thick with conversations around them, the world fell silent, melting away for a brief moment, as her hand reached out to find him. Nothing else in the world mattered. They were together again!
Technical Notes: I cropped two photos to tell the story of my daughter’s love for R2D2. It was important to remove the others from the images to center the story around the characters. In the first photo, I use the cropping tool to focus the reader on the kiss that started it all. By cropping the second image, I was able to focus the reader’s attention on the little detail of her hand placed on R2D2 using the rule of thirds. I also used the blur and brush elements in Photoshop to remove small traces of Leia’s robe that was not easily cropped from the bottom right size of the photo.
If you’ve ever been to an aquarium, you’ve probably spent longer than you expected staring at the jellyfish exhibit. What is it about these creatures that evokes such a strong sense of both curiosity and serenity? It’s so easy to lose track of time watching them float seemingly without a care.
This image isn’t particularly terrible by any means but I believe the original artist missed out on a good opportunity to crop. Notice that there is a lot of redundant negative space in the empty ocean behind the jellyfish on the right. Additionally, the jellies in the upper left corner don’t particularly add enough to the photo to warrant their inclusion.
There’s an old quote by photojournalist Robert Capa which gets passed around a lot that “if your photos aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” While I’m sure there was a physical barrier preventing the photographer from getting any closer, I think a tighter crop could have brought the subject closer and made this photo better. Luckily, the original image was so large in size that it could support a closer crop.
To crop this photo I brought the focus back to the jellyfish which were originally on the right side of the photograph. Following the rule of thirds, I placed the jellyfish as closely as I could to the lower left intersection of lines and I have completely removed the smaller jellyfish from the canvas. This tighter crop brought the jellyfish closer to the viewer allowing for more detail. The swirling tentacles drifting counterclockwise from the upper right quadrant creates a more dynamic image. It’s almost as if the jellyfish has just floated into view.
