Before you shoot an object, assuring beforehand the necessary control settings such as shutter speed; aperture; ISO speed; a proper DSLR lens selection; as well as deciding detail elements will be included within the frame. But when you review the results; there are still improper details found; such as distractions on the background or there is small element need to be discarded. This is common problem in photography. What you look over the viewfinder; the result is inappropriate. At the film camera era this kind of problem was difficult to correct, but at digital era this kind of problem is easy to correct.

Digital imaging offers creative amenity solutions in editing digital image in the computer such as cropping; correcting the tone; correcting the color balance; adjusting the brightness etc using image editing tool such as Adobe Photoshop. However, you shall lessen editing digital image in the computer as minimal as possible. Don’t make it as a habit if you want to be a professional photographer. See also digital white balance selection in different condition.

Distraction at the right side

Let’s take a look at the above Camels photo. The camels in this photograph look attractive but the composition needs improvement. An elephant at the right side is crosscut; makes the composition as a whole is imperfect.

Cropping for better composition

By applying tighten cropping in the computer using Adobe Photoshop; you can improve the composition to look balance. By eliminating the crosscut elephant on the above first photo, you will get a bigger impression on the above Camels photo. See also image photo perspective.

Tighten Cropping

Be careful with close-up photo which some area of the object touching the frame sides, or close up photo that leaves small area of the background. The photograph will look stuffy. If you need to crop, you must do it correctly and carefully; especially applying tighten cropping. In case of some crosscut area of the photo like at the ear and the knee; don’t ever try to correct it or correcting the image on the computer; it will just waste your time. The result will not get better. But if you really need to crop it; you can exploit tighten cropping so the photo will look more dynamic.

Cropping the right side

Improving Composition – Exploiting the Cropping

You can exploit image editing tool such as Adobe Photoshop to improve the composition balance of a photograph. Processing in the computer sometimes gives you some improvement ideas to get a better composition balance; probably you need to reduce one or more elements within the frame. For example; you decide to focus only to one person among several people on the photo by cropping the photo. In this way you’d get the photo to become more dynamic and fascinating. Or probably you need to get rid of distractions; get rid of one or more photo elements to get a proportional composition. However you still need to follow the rule of thirds; or probably you need to break the rules and do your creativity according to your photography style.

A man at the right side is not balance

Last but not least, exploiting cropping tool on the computer will give you the experience about framing and composition technique. You will use this experience on the camera during photography so in the future you will automatically make a perfect composition using the camera and you don’t need to make any correction later on the computer.

Eliminating distraction for better composition

Remember, don’t make cropping in digital imaging tool is your habit in photography. This must be your last effort only if you need to correct the composition. Composing the elements that forms a photo must be done prior pressing the shutter button; and this will be your final result.

See also:

• Photography exposure technique – the basic
• Camera exposure – the trick
• Photography background – the problems with camera exposure