This week I’m looking at cropping, can cropping improve a photo and what’s the best way to do it? Well that’s a good question and it’s one I’ve been trying to figure out.
I’m trying to learn the best way to take a picture, the angle, the light etc, then someone mentions the golden ratio, 1:0.68:1, it forms a grid – but not one my camera can manage, and that is supposed to make an image more pleasing to the eye. From what I can tell this far surpasses the rule of thirds (ROT), though generally the technique you use would depend on what you’re photographing. One thing is for sure, there is a lot of information out there, I fear I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.
Some say portraits are best suited to the Fibonacci spiral while others say it’s better for landscape, perhaps it’s a matter of opinion? Here is one of my portraits testing it (using the Golden Ratio Generator), clearly it needs cropping a little more lol.
Xander and the Fibonacci spiral
Here I tested it on a landscape…
Whereas the following is – according to Befunky photo editor – the golden ratio, looks more like a ROT grid, which is available in Lightroom when cropping and shows on my camera screen, still it has made me rethink this crop too…
For the more accurate golden ration grid it seems to be the phi grid, but whichever you use, the suggestion by Madeuseof.com is that it’s all about the intersections, they draw the eye. A well worth read I might add. So let’s try the grid on our portrait…
I think I prefer the spiral in some sense, but my camera only offers the grid as an option and just the rule of thirds grid. Below I’ve re-edited some of my shots using the grid, the first one has never been edited before, and yes I’ve altered the colours too, the larger two were the originals. Have you had a try? Show me what difference it made to you? Do you prefer the before or after?
Learn & Love You 