Perhaps out of timidity, budding photographers never move in close enough. Often only a part of the subject is needed to express it fully. Indeed, a thoughtfully cropped subject can have greater impact than the full monty. The use of close in-camera cropping can add dynamism to many compositions.
Your assignment then is to choose a subject — your cat, your friend, a pumpkin, whatever — and explore it fully, photographing the whole and moving in to selectively crop out unneeded detail. Experiment with fresh new angles and a variety of different light directions.
Learning to critically evaluate your own work is an essential skill as a photographer.
Careful cropping of this private herd of zebra in California reveals an optical illusion, making it difficult to determine where one zebra begins and another leaves off.
A fairly cliché treatment of a paper umbrella in Kyoto Japan makes for a graphic composition in spite of itself.
Thoughtful cropping of this spectator and pal following the Vancouver Pride Parade yields a dynamic image.
A dragon mask at the New Year’s festival in Vancouver’s Chinatown takes on formidable impact as a consequence of close cropping.
All photographs were taken by Brian Grover. To browse more images visit my photo gallery here: Brian Grover Photography.
