“Why don’t you get a haircut? You look like a chrysanthemum.” P. G. Wodehouse
A person with unkempt long hair will benefit from a good haircut, and so will your pictures.
In the days of the ubiquitous “smartphone”, there is an orgy of snapshots or selfies. But when you do so, you only get a raw product, something like a debutante who needs polishing before being introduced to society.
To make your pictures more interesting, you need to focus on the main subject and remove distracting details; cropping is your ideal chiseling tool to do this.
“Cropping is the removal of unwanted outer areas from a photographic or illustrated image. The process usually consists of the removal of some of the peripheral areas of an image to remove extraneous trash from the picture, to improve its framing, to change the aspect ratio, or to accentuate or isolate the subject matter from its background.”
You will better appreciate the value of cropping, after looking at before and after pictures. A shot that looked dull and uninteresting suddenly comes alive after some skillful trimming.
Before sending or posting a photograph, ask yourself: do I want to keep it as is or should I improve it? If so, what do you want to emphasize? The man’s mustache or the building behind him? And do I need to show the entire body of this person? Unless it is a woman with Betty Grable’s legs, probably not.
When taking selfies, women (don’t deny it) try to emphasize their best assets. Nothing wrong with that, but before sexting a selfie to your admirers, watch the surroundings. Remove (crop) the dirty laundry on the floor or the naked man in the shower. Carelessness can be quite embarrassing.
Just about any photo software now includes some editing tools. Some are more intricate than some others, but all offer basic editing means.
Trimming and correcting an image can be time-consuming, but it is well worth the effort.
Sometimes, years after a picture has been taken, you glance at it and you realize how dull it looks. In a matter of minutes, you can rejuvenate it and make it attractive again.
Before posting anything anywhere, take a few minutes of your time to experience the joys of cropping. It sounds kinky, but it is not.
Trust me, crop before you flop.
Alain