How do you serve up your insta pics? Bright, light & SQUARE. Amiright? Yes, I'm right.
Today I thought we could talk a little about instagram. Particularly, the pics before the pics. Time to, talk croppy to me. (If you're playing this song in your head right now, that's exactly what I was hoping for.)
BEFORE:
You can probably tell from this before pic that I was planning to have the donut take cake. (Pun intended.) I have it aligned over on the left of the frame. But, after I scurried away from the office kitchen wondering if anyone saw me playing with my food, I decided the focus needed to be even more emphasized.
CROPPED:
Most of my hand. So your eye will immediately focus on this glorious fried dough.
BEFORE:
Not bad, not bad. I was aiming for a detail shot. But one of my hands is super dry & distracting. Also, it's placed weirdly. Who stands like that?! Now you're questioning why I'm standing like that. I tricked ya, because I wanted to point out you are NOT focusing on this awesome skirt print.
CROPPED:
Half the outfit. This way I can get a mega-detail close up shot of the skirt print, crop out my distracting hand & also appear to be standing like a normal person. WIN!
BEFORE:
Awww. This one was a blooper. Anjali (remember my roomie for life?!) has her eyes closed & Dave is squinting in the sun. But I had just learned how to wrap a bouquet & I loved the way these red roses contrast with Anjali's crisp white shirt. & I really, really wanted to show off her brand new ring (they just got engaged!).
CROPPED:
Everything. There's so much going on in this picture. Don't be afraid to zoom in on the details. When I stopped looking at their faces (rude), I realized how perfect Anjali & Dave were standing (sa'cute, right?). I used the "constrain to square" crop feature on iPhoto & was able to square-crop this baby before I even but it up on insta.
BEFORE
I was shooting with the rule of thirds in mind. But what are you focusing on? The tree branch, right?
CROPPED
The wall. Rule of thirds? More like Rule of Thirteenths.
BEFORE
Sometimes I don't want to crop anything out of a photo. That's what happened here. I really loved the way my green sweater added to the frame (expertly rolled sleeves, thank you very much). The color was a nice balance, but the dang thing wasn't square.
CROPPED
My arm. I decided the flowers were more important. I know it's not a huge change, but I just wanted to show you that not all is lost when you have to crop a photo you love to fit it into insta.
Last but not least...
BEFORE
Not too bad, but it looks a little awkward in the frame. You can tell I'm not directly above the bowls because the one on the right has a funky dimension.
CROPPED
The sides & top of the bowl on the right. It gives the illusion of a perfect aerial shot.
Cropping can change the whole feel of a picture. & once you find your style, it'll take less & less cuts to get that perfect frame. One of the awesome blogs I read is Chocolate Covered Katie. Her "behind the scenes" post several weeks ago inspired me to talk cropping with you guys. Do you have other cropping tips or tricks? Let's hear what you know! Drop some knowledge on me.
xo
P.S. Do you recognize some of these pictures? Here are the Ida Street posts they came from:
Styling a dress that's a little too tight
Northern Kentucky's Velocity Bike & Bean
Wrapping your own bouquet
Spicy Veggie Chili
& you can follow me on insta here, if you'd like!