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 different ways to properly crop an image: in camera, and in post-production. The first method, cropping in camera is the best way of cropping. By cropping in camera you get the full resolution of your camera in your final images. Cropping in camera means that you carefully frame your subjects as you shoot your images, and decide what is in frame and what is out of frame. When you take a picture of a person’s face, just the face is in frame, not the whole body to be cropped out later. By doing this, the final image will have the full resolution that your camera has recorded.

Sometimes this just isn’t possible though, and you will need to use the second method of cropping: cropping in post production. At times you must shoot action shots that are so fast that they don’t give you time to properly frame your subject.

Examples of this might be many people fast dancing at the reception, or people jumping to catch the bouquet or garter. This is ok. Just shoot and try to capture the moment, then later you can crop your image with Photoshop or another similar photo editing program. But, as stated earlier, you lose some resolution quality to your final image.

Now that we have gone over the two different ways to crop a photo we can now move on to how to crop correctly. What do you decide to leave in frame, and what do we crop out of the image? It’s easiest to begin with where we shouldn’t crop. You should never try to crop a subject at the articulations, that is, the joints, ankles, knees, or waist.

You are probably aware of the full length shot, that is, the entire body of your subject with a little bit of space above the head, and below the feet. The next kind of portrait is called the 3/4 length shot. In this type of portrait the thigh of the subject makes the bottom edge of the frame, and a little space above the head of the subject will be the upper frame.

Moving along we have the head and shoulders length portrait. This is done by framing the subject with the upper chest as the bottom edge of the image, and once again a small space above the head will be the top edge of the image.

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 leading 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

Technorati Tags: advice, art, camera, composition, crop, cropping, digital, Digital Camera, photography, techniques, tips, wedding

Tags: advice, art, camera, composition, crop, cropping, digital, Digital Camera, photography, techniques, tips, wedding

It’s tough choosing the right digital camera from among the many that are out there for sale. There are plenty of different factors you need to consider. You need to take them into account to buy the best camera that suits your needs and that will make your photographs of highest quality.

Some people purchase based on price, or based on brand. I would recommend you not pay too much attention to either, aside from having a budget to stick to. Some inexpensive cameras are better than some expensive models. Instead, focus on the different features of the cameras, and match the available features to how you will be using the camera to find the best match.

Viewfinders come in either EVF or traditional. It doesn’t make a huge difference which you pick, it’s just whatever you are more comfortable with or prefer. You can find some digital cameras that have the same sort of traditional viewfinder than a non-digital camera uses.

There are other cameras that don’t have an optical viewfinder. Some cameras actually use an electronic one instead, which works just as well.

What type of screen would be best for you? Many digital cameras have an LCD screen that takes the image that the camera is focused on (or else the picture recently taken) and displays it on this screen in great detail.

Resolution is another big issue. You need to determine what resolution you are going to need. The higher the resolution, the clearer and more successful your pictures are likely to be.

When you go shopping for a camera you will hear about megapixels. This is the standard measure of resolution. Most cameras can offer at least 3 to 7 megapixels. Don’t go lower than this. Any lower than this range, and you’ll end up with blurry photos. The higher the megapixels the better the photo quality and the more you can enlarge the image without affecting clarity.

Meet your specific photography needs by considering your digital camera options carefully before you buy. If you consider your needs, and match them to the features that are out there, surely you will find the right camera for you.

See various other articles created by this same writer dealing with areas like Vince Delmonte review and how to dunk.

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Technorati Tags: advice, arts, camera, career, digital, Digital Camera, entertainment, gadgets, Hobbies, images, photography, shopping, technology, trend

Tags: advice, arts, camera, career, digital, Digital Camera, entertainment, gadgets, Hobbies, images, photography, shopping, technology, trend