Cropping
What makes a photograph compelling? The subject and its composition in the photograph.Rule? Trust your instincts! We are all a part of the universe and the basic principals underlying its construction. One of those rules is a simple number sequence called the Fibonacci Sequence.
Images need to be cropped to straighten horizons, remove distractions, and zoom (enlarge) the subject. If you are printing an image at an aspect ratio of 5:7 and your photograph has an aspect ratio of 3:2, you'll need to do some creative cropping.
A cropped image can be cropped to ANY aspect ratio!
Here's more about cropping in Photoshop and Lightroom:
http://www.uofgts.com/PS-P2Site/crop.html
Recover your Edges
Adobe has released for Lightroom an dng edge recovery program. Most digital cameras crop the image to fit the aspect ratio you have chosen in the camera's settings. The data is still available in the raw file (except for Nikon and Panasonic Cameras as they "throw away that information when they save the raw file.) You can download the plug-in for free from Adobe Labshttp://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroomplugins/
Download the pdf doc file to see how to use the plug-in in Lightroom's Library Module. The module only works on DNG files, so you'll need to convert the file from your raw format to dng first.
For some cameras the image recovery is quite noticeable… not so much with my aging Canon.
Canon File Size Pre: 3453 x 2302
Canon File size Post: 3471 x 2314
The difference is barely noticeable. Give it a try, you might be surprised!
Enjoy your thanksgiving and we'll see you next week!
