Sunday, September 4, 2011

The process of elimination

Over at Exploring with a Camera they're considering the process of elimination in photographs.  I can so relate to that.  Kat's post talks about framing and also the cheaters way--cropping.  I have to admit that cropping is something I routinely do.  Here's an example.  The photo of the stunning sky is mucked up by the skyline of trees and houses.



Here I've eliminated most of the distractions.



I left the tree on the right.  I tried a version with it removed but it didn't have the clear detail of the light shining through the cloud at the bottom.

I didn't think it worked as well.  But I'm not sure....   I find I often leave too much unnecessary detail in a photo.  What do you think?



To see more work with elimination of superfluous detail click here .

And speaking of elimination, I'm working hard this week to eliminate stuff that's cluttering up my house.  Son James, who spent the summer with us, has gone back for his last year of school.  It's left a space that I'm determined to keep open--through a process of elimination.

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8 comments:

  1. Kat SlomaSeptember 4, 2011 at 10:17 PM

    I like it better with the tree on the right too! It balances the image. I hope you can keep the "space" open for a while. The process of elimination works for our lives too, you're right. I've been working on it multiple places?

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  2. Stephanie VSeptember 5, 2011 at 7:35 AM

    Sounds more like the process of 'determination' :)

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  3. stevenSeptember 5, 2011 at 10:26 AM

    photo editing - framing and cropping and finding the essence of the image - is a source of great pleasure and fascination for me also joanna. cool for you!!! steven

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  4. angryparsnipSeptember 5, 2011 at 11:37 AM

    I seem to be always eliminating stuff and it seems to be always growing and multiplying. Like coat hangers.

    I sometime crop or frame my shots because I have a hard time holding the camera up and still at the same time, so many of my shots are indeed point and click !
    I just started to use Picasa so I am floundering my way through the framing and cropping part.

    I sometimes over think some of my photo but what happens to me is the color is always so much better in real life. I never seem to catch the true colors of the Tucson sky.

    cheers, parsnip

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  5. CedarSeptember 6, 2011 at 9:52 PM

    I'm surprised how well the closer crop does work--I love the straight line in it--but the other shot is also lovely! It is a gorgeous sky!

    (Visiting from Exploring with a Camera.)

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  6. ChesSeptember 8, 2011 at 5:55 AM

    Hi Joanna (and Harry), I crop just about all the photos I use in my blog. Tools are meant to be used. Always enjoy reading about you and your lives and hoping you are both well.

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  7. Carola BartzSeptember 8, 2011 at 12:24 PM

    I do like the cropped photo with the tree better as well. As Kat said, it is more balanced and the sky is more dramatic.

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  8. TerrieSeptember 9, 2011 at 8:50 PM

    I like the tree - it helps with scale and interest, plus you see more of the interesting sky.

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I really appreciate your comments.

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