The internet is a visual universe.
Every single web page has many pictures on it. Pictures are used to spice up the page make it more colourful, exciting and visually appealing.
A picture says more than a thousand words and conveys emotion, mood and style all at once.
When you place pictures in any digital communication, use quality, high definition pictures. They should be clearly focused with good composition.
To make your communication stand out, you need to ensure that your images are professional and up to standard, or you face the risk of people ignoring your messages.
Let’s talk cropping.
What is Cropping?
In photography, you are said to crop a photograph to remove or adjust the photograph’s edges.
The result is a change of composition of the original photograph.
Reasons you might want to crop a photograph would include:
- Creating a close-up image
- Removal of unused space in the picture
- Removal of distractions
- To improve the composition
- To resize an image
The Rule of Thirds
The most important rule for cropping is to remember to use the famous “rule of thirds“.
It is an unspoken rule in photography that you never place your subject smack in the centre of the screen. Such photos do not catch the eye or appear attractive at all.
The rule of thirds divides all images into three equal horizontal and three equal vertical sections (or nine individual boxes) separated by grid lines. The basic concept is to place the points of interest near the spots where grid lines intersect.
This takes a little practice, but once you do it once or twice, you will soon get the hang of it.
The best way to check is to ask yourself if the rule of thirds has been applied after you crop the shot.
How do I Crop a Photo?
Photo editing software almost always comes with a cropping tool. However, this software is often expensive and provides so many professional functions that you probably will never use.
Instead of rushing off and spending your hard-earned sheckles on expensive software, you can simply use an online service that will crop your image online.
You simply upload your photo to the site, either select the template you want to use or customize your own crop, preview the image, press go and voila! Your photo is ready for immediate download.
Nothing could be simpler.
Closing Out
Cropping can be transformative when it comes to the composition of your photographs.
You can turn a mediocre picture into something stunning, with a completely different point of focus simply by cropping the picture to taste.
Cropping can be used creatively to enhance any photograph. However, when you take photographs, it’s always best to compose the photograph as close to perfect before you take the shot.
If your shot is perfect, there will be no need to crop it. Most of us are not professional photographers, and most pictures are taken on cell phones.
Cropping is nearly always necessary and is often required before uploading your pictures to certain social media apps.
Crop when you need to and whenever the photograph will be improved.
