Photography Techniques at Weddings for Novices – Properly Cropping Your Images

Cropping your subject correctly is an important aspect of taking a great portrait. There are different standard portrait lengths: full body, the face and upper part of the body, close up of the face, etc. How do we decide what to leave in frame and what to crop out? I am going to talk about different ways to crop a portrait to make the finished image look more professional, and more pleasing to the eye.

There are two methods to crop a photo: cropping in camera, and cropping in postproduction. The first method, cropping in camera, is the preferred method of cropping, as it takes advantage of your camera’s maximum resolution per image. As you take a picture, you decide what to leave in what to leave out by properly framing your subject. So if you want to take a picture of just your subjects face, you are just focusing on the face, not the whole body with the plan of later cropping the picture on the computer. This way your image has the original resolution that your camera recorded.

Though cropping in camera is the preferred method, there are times when it just isn’t possible. This is where cropping in post production comes in handy. Imagine yourself taking pictures of a very quick action at an event, so quick that you do not have time to carefully compose the photo.

Some examples of this may be people tearing it up on the dance floor, or girls reaching to catch a bouquet. This is not a problem. You just need to take your photos, get the moment, and later when you are relaxed looking at the pictures on the computer you can crop your photo with photoshop. As I said earlier, some resolution is lost but this is the price one needs to pay to get the shot.

Now that it is clear which method of cropping to use at which situation, we can discuss how we decide to leave parts of the subject in frame, while cropping other parts out. To start, DO NOT crop a subject at the joints, i.e., ankles, waist, knees, etc.

Many are well aware of the full length shot where the subject’s entire body is in frame, with a little space left below the feet and above the top of the head. Another type of portrait is the 3/4 length portrait. To compose this portrait have the top of the subject’s thigh as the bottom edge, and a bit of space above the head as the top of the image.

Following this is the portrait referred to as the head and shoulder length. This portrait will consist of the bottom edge being the upper chest of the subject, and again the upper edge will be a bit of space above the subject’s head.

The last type of portrait is also the most complicated, the close up of the face. As you may have seen in countless fashion magazines or photos online, these portraits for the most part tend to be more artistic. Because of this there are no hard and strict rules for cropping. My advice to you is to study the genre of facial close ups and choose a style of cropping that best suits your photography, and then expand from there.

If you new to wedding photography keep with it! I hope this tip helps you out at your next wedding. Good Luck.

Kevin Heslin is one of the premier Wedding and Commercial Photographers in Costa Rica. Besides commercial and wedding photography, Kevin also specializes in Travel and Cultural Portraits. To see more photo tips click on his blog Costa Rica Photographer Or to see photos of his weddings in Costa Rica, or travel and cultural photography in Central America check out his website Costa Rica Photography

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