Cropping

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markiemc13

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Mark
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Hi Guys, I'm just sorting through some shots.

Just a quick one, Sorry if it's meant to be obvious..
when your doing your cropping what do you aim for?
How do you know what shape, size and style to crop?

Thanks for the help
Mark :thinking:
 
I use a 'rule of thirds' grid and crop to that. (but not always!)
 
typically 7x5 as a basis then tweek to suit as required but the majority is custom cropped, nice and tight............


It takes practice to know and understand what works, even now plenty of my shots could be cropped better :shrug:

I would advise spending time studying the output from Getty each matchday and also looking at what gets used in the redtops and broadsheets. Pay particular attention to the sunday/monday sports pullouts as this is where your most likely to earn your money. It isn't always an accurate representation of what is filed to the papers but it shows you roughly what they want...............................................................................................
 
Rovers_Andy said:
typically 7x5 as a basis then tweek to suit as required but the majority is custom cropped, nice and tight............


It takes practice to know and understand what works, even now plenty of my shots could be cropped better :shrug:

I would advise spending time studying the output from Getty each matchday and also looking at what gets used in the redtops and broadsheets. Pay particular attention to the sunday/monday sports pullouts as this is where your most likely to earn your money. It isn't always an accurate representation of what is filed to the papers but it shows you roughly what they want...............................................................................................
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Thankyou, That's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for!
My custom cropping seems to be a bit "off"..
Thanks for the response, your advice is appreciated. :)
 
I went through 300 of my photo's from last weekend's game and ended up with 25 shots and I am now going through them and cropping where needed.

I have some shots of lineouts and have cropped them from a landscape view to just the players being lifted by the prop's and it is now a portrait shot.
 
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DSC_0034.jpg


From Landscape to Portrait C&C welcome
 
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AFC said:
I went through 300 of my photo's from last weekend's game and ended up with 25 shots and I am now going through them and cropping where needed.

I have some shots of lineouts and have cropped them from a landscape view to just the players being lifted by the prop's and it is now a portrait shot.
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My "keep rate" isn't much more! Thanks for the comment :)
 
Actually Mark I have heard and read of toggers taking 300, 400 & 500 photo's and ending up with between 25 and 50 shots.
 
Theres no straight answer to this. Covering three newspapers today one asked for "square crop" another rectangle and the other wasnt fussed! When submitting to the the newspapers you can only second guess and try and cover all with various crops of same or similar shots. Just to throw another into the pot it can also depend on which leagues you are covering.
 
snapzz said:
Theres no straight answer to this. Covering three newspapers today one asked for "square crop" another rectangle and the other wasnt fussed! When submitting to the the newspapers you can only second guess and try and cover all with various crops of same or similar shots. Just to throw another into the pot it can also depend on which leagues you are covering.
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Cheers for that, Sounds unpredictable! :gag:
 
...and if you're really lucky they'll totally ignore how you've worried about the cropping then crop it further themselves, or even better just cut out the subject ;)
 
purpleclouds said:
...and if you're really lucky they'll totally ignore how you've worried about the cropping then crop it further themselves, or even better just cut out the subject ;)
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Aha, Phil i'm sure your aware of PNE's well know loss of limbs and main features through their Kamikaze cropping :lol:
 
I normally crop to a 4:3 ratio, it works pretty well, but theres times that I have to alter the crop so I can fit it all in.
 
Cropping for me is part of my style of photogrpahy.. I not only crop tight I will also crop into the scene.. but thats the style I like.. A ful length pic of two players heading the ball... thats a good pic.. but I will crop right into the heads and ball... like I say thats my style of photography.. others have there style.. each of us needs to develope there own...

Newspapers prefer less cropping wiht lots of bleed so they can either choose there own crop or use the bleed to caption over..
 
KIPAX said:
Cropping for me is part of my style of photogrpahy.. I not only crop tight I will also crop into the scene.. but thats the style I like.. A ful length pic of two players heading the ball... thats a good pic.. but I will crop right into the heads and ball... like I say thats my style of photography.. others have there style.. each of us needs to develope there own...

Newspapers prefer less cropping wiht lots of bleed so they can either choose there own crop or use the bleed to caption over..
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Cheers Kipax, My style is crooked horizons and dodgey cropping at the moment! :bang:
 
I normally try and keep the 6:4 ratio and let the papers do the rest. You'd be amazed at the difference between what you submit and what's printed.
 
It is certainly different cropping for sports shots than other forms like wildlife. With wildlife we all know that you leave some space in front of the animal/bird etc so it gives the effect of moving in that direction and that is why I left some space on my Rugby shots so it showed where the player was heading, but apparently I should have cropped even tighter than I did.

There is a link to my first Rugby shoot and I know they are not the greatest shots in the world. As I was a guest 'togger' on the day I did feel that I couldn't go wandering around and getting in other peoples way so I camped in one spot for about 75/80% of the time. I had shots in my head that I wanted to take but obviously didn't get around to it, but now after being asked to be the clubs assistant/backup 'togger' I can move around with more freedom now.

Please take a look at the pix - link below - and any C&C would be most welcome and please be as brutal as you like, I personally wouldn't have bothered to put them on here, but was advised to for the boys to give some guidance....like sell your gear and take up line dancing :(....anyway I await the jury's verdict :shake:.

TIA

Martin

http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt211/RossoneriGunner/SRFC--v--Ealing T/
 
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On Saturday I was given cropping instructions requested by the newspapers. To be sure I send variations of each shot. One with large space to right, one a rectangle (portrait), one as a square and one tighter crop H&S landscape. One usage was the square format cropped even tighter to half length but still square and then made into landscape for website.

If your selling to players or fans then keep the crop to recognise photo sizes.
 
I tend to crop in fairly close and make the shape of the crop suit the action i.e. removing stray arms/legs etc. Sometimes I'll get specific instructions e.g. the Guardian rang last night for a pic from the Reading game and specified they wanted a landscape crop.

I like the idea of sending in the same shot in different crops...interesting.
 
Tobers said:
I like the idea of sending in the same shot in different crops...interesting.
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That seems a bit silly to me.. is that what was meant? Just a pic with a big bleed and they can crop any shape they want.. Dont think I would ever send the same pic with different crops
 
KIPAX said:
That seems a bit silly to me.. is that what was meant? Just a pic with a big bleed and they can crop any shape they want.. Dont think I would ever send the same pic with different crops
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Sometimes the newspapers use images with space to the right (or left depending on the image) and overlay text/headlines/match report etc. These are mainly from prem games but can be used from Championship if its current news of someone or team. Background needs to be well oof though otherwise text wont stand out. The Sunday red tops are favourite for using this especially with 2-page spreads.
 
Yes, but...if you want max detail you might send a close-in crop so you're supplying as many pixels as possible, and then another wider crop with space around for captioning. If you only sent the wider one, maybe the picture desk would end up with a v.poor quality image if they cropped it heavily?
 
snapzz said:
Sometimes the newspapers use images with space to the right (or left depending on the image) and overlay text/headlines/match report etc. These are mainly from prem games but can be used from Championship if its current news of someone or team. Background needs to be well oof though otherwise text wont stand out. The Sunday red tops are favourite for using this especially with 2-page spreads.
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Yes I know all that.. hence why I say send with less or no crop and they can then decide the exact shape themselves.. oh and believe me its not restricted to prem or any other league.. its relative to what the paper wants as headlines..
 
Tobers said:
Yes, but...if you want max detail you might send a close-in crop so you're supplying as many pixels as possible, and then another wider crop with space around for captioning. If you only sent the wider one, maybe the picture desk would end up with a v.poor quality image if they cropped it heavily?
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Thats why I sometimes send variations. I dont always get the same options but if I do I'll send maybe three. One close crop full length, one close crop half (landscape or upright) and one with wide off centre crop. On saturday I sent in total four shots a Scunthorpes goal cele with two shows. If I had restricted myself to just one I may have sent the wrong crop and someone else may have been used if their crop fitted the space.

Just a question of covering all beses really especially if you have images.How many times do you see very similar shots to yours. Maybe its just the crop that sealed it (or maybe it just was Getty or PA or AI :shrug:) or times when you see a usage similar to one of your yet you didnt send it :bang:
 
snapzz said:
Thats why I sometimes send variations. I dont always get the same options but if I do I'll send maybe three. One close crop full length, one close crop half (landscape or upright) and one with wide off centre crop. On saturday I sent in total four shots a Scunthorpes goal cele with two shows. If I had restricted myself to just one I may have sent the wrong crop and someone else may have been used if their crop fitted the space.

Just a question of covering all beses really especially if you have images.How many times do you see very similar shots to yours. Maybe its just the crop that sealed it (or maybe it just was Getty or PA or AI :shrug:) or times when you see a usage similar to one of your yet you didnt send it :bang:
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Great advice, appreciate it.
 
snapzz said:
How many times do you see very similar shots to yours. Maybe its just the crop that sealed it (or maybe it just was Getty or PA or AI :shrug:) or times when you see a usage similar to one of your yet you didnt send it :bang:
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Too many times :'(
 
snapzz said:
Thats why I sometimes send variations. I dont always get the same options but if I do I'll send maybe three. One close crop full length, one close crop half (landscape or upright) and one with wide off centre crop. On saturday I sent in total four shots a Scunthorpes goal cele with two shows. If I had restricted myself to just one I may have sent the wrong crop and someone else may have been used if their crop fitted the space.

Just a question of covering all beses really especially if you have images.How many times do you see very similar shots to yours. Maybe its just the crop that sealed it (or maybe it just was Getty or PA or AI :shrug:) or times when you see a usage similar to one of your yet you didnt send it :bang:
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Snap, if i get a good cele i always send a few crop variations of it. Got a good one on saturday which got used in the sun today, but sent 4 of the same thing just cropped differently.
 
photobeef said:
Snap, if i get a good cele i always send a few crop variations of it. Got a good one on saturday which got used in the sun today, but sent 4 of the same thing just cropped differently.
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i'll take that into mind, thanks a lot!
 
snapzz said:
If your selling to players or fans then keep the crop to recognise photo sizes.
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As I don't sell to the Newspapers I do as above.
 
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