How to Create Awesome Photos by Cropping

Having taken thousands of photographs over the years, I have discovered that you can turn an ordinary photograph into an awesome one just by cropping. Every picture should be cropped to make it better and there is a rare photo that does not need cropping. Cropping is a form of photo-editing where you cut parts of the photo out or re-frame it to a smaller size to emphasize different areas of the photograph. ANYONE can crop. You just need to want to do it and read a little about it. Right after this comment and email box, I will finish this article about cropping.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• JASC photo program (optional)
• PhotoShop Elements (Optional)
• Cardboard cropping tools, optional
• photos
• Need to improve photos

1. Boat photo before cropping. Nice scenic, but suppose you wanted just the boat photo? Find the best photo program for your purposes. Personally, I like the JASC program even better than the Photo Shop Elements program. But the choice is yours; whatever works for you is the best for your situation.
   
   If you are cropping prints, you can use some cardboard cropping tools to take picture parts out.
2. Gather your collection of photographs, the ones that you were previously happy with. Set them all out on a table so you can view them all. Choose three or four photos that you think you might be able to improve on.
   
   From those three, choose one photo that you will experiment with.
   
   If you have your photos on disk or in a file on your computer, choose one or two that you will work on.
   
   For physical photographs, use the cropping boards to see the pictures how they might be if you cut some parts out. Then choose the one that looks best to you.
   
   For electronic programs, choose "OPEN WITH" from your dialog box. Open with JASC or open with Photo Shop Elements, or for mild editing open with MS Paint. (You can crop with the Paint program).
   
   Choose Image , then choose Crop. The box will come up over your photo. Now use your curser to bring the box outward to include more parts of the photograph until you achieve the desired effect.
   
   Take a course at your local library or at your local senior or youth centers and you will have all the skills you need to improve all of your photographs.
3. This is the after picture. Cropping all background out of the scene, the boat shows up better. Here is a little explanation of how these programs work to improve your pictures.
   
   Various photo programs use different cropping tools , even online. One photo program will show a box around the photo, and then you use the cursor to bring the points of the box inward. This way you are shrinking the photograph. That works. But that is not the one that I like to use. The other one shows a box that is put over the original photograph. This box is very much smaller than the photograph, and that is great. All you do to crop is by adding more of the picture rather than by taking parts away.
   
   For example, see the photos in this article, both the before and after photos of a boat scene. I cropped these photos with the JASC program. And, just as an added note, both of these photos were taken with an ordinary cellular phone. Check out the before and after.
   
   Over the years, I have taken thousands of photographs of all subjects and topics. And during those years, I have shown my pictures in more than sixty-five public (solo) exhibits, and six group shows. If these tips or helpful hints have helped you at all or if you like or dislike this article, kindly leave a note at the comments box.
   
   Very important notes are in my Tips and Warnings sections, so please continue reading.

Tips & Warnings

• If you do not have a camera, use your cellular phone to take pictures. You will at least have some photographs. (See my boat pictures. I had no camera with me that day, exempt my cellular phone camera).
• Try online programs, some photo programs have free trials.
• There are other photo programs online besides those two. Do a search.
• When cropping a photograph, always save a copy or two copies of the original. Doing so will prevent the loss of a good photo if you should make a mistake or lose the photo.
• Never copy photographs from the net; most are copyright protected and copying photos, website and other items are illegal. Most times you can get written permission for using art or writings, just ask and see if it is available.