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A Visual Guide to Cropping (Getting the Perfect Crop, Every Time)

By Anna Gay on November 13, 2017 | No Comments

Visual Guide to Cropping Photos

Why Cropping Is So Important

Choosing the correct crop, whether its in camera while you are shooting, or in post-processing when you edit (cropping in Photoshop or Lightroom), can completely make or break your image. While it may seem like a small detail, cropping is often the detail that will take your images from looking sloppy to professional just by slightly moving your camera.

Where To Crop

Below is a visual guide for you to see a few places where (and where not!) to crop on a subject who is standing, facing the camera. These guidelines can also be applied to a subject who is sitting, or in a closeup shot. The green lines represent points that are safe to crop, while the red lines indicates the no-crop zone. 

The main takeaway? Don't crop too close to joints such as ankles, knees, hips and elbows - leave a bit of room in those areas, or your crop will just look a bit "off." Also, be sure not to chop off parts such as fingers - either include the whole hand, or no hand at all - but don't crop in the middle of a hand!

How to Crop Photos

 

Would you like to print our Visual Guide to Cropping? You can download your copy to print here!

 

Do you have any questions or comments about our Visual Guide to Cropping Photos?  Leave us a comment below - we would LOVE to hear from you!  And PLEASE SHARE our camera buying guide using the social sharing buttons (we really appreciate it)!

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Pretty Presets for Lightroom author Anna Gay

Anna Gay

Portrait Photographer

Anna Gay is a portrait photographer based in Athens, GA and the author of the dPS ebook The Art of Self-Portraiture. She also designs actions and textures for Photoshop. When she is not shooting or writing, she enjoys spending time with her husband, and their two cats, Elphie and Fat Cat.

November 13, 2017

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