1 reply to this topic

[Joejr14]

Okay, so now that I've finally uploaded the 27GB (yeah, you read that right) of pictures from my Alaska honeymoon I'm finally starting to edit them on my desktop. I did prelim edits while out there on the wife's laptop so I could post pics, blogs, etc, but now I'm editing for my website, shows down the road, etc.

I'm struggling with some of the sea otter pics, specifically how to crop them.

Here's the uncropped/unedited version.




And here's my first go round editing it. 40% crop, Nik tonal contrast and detail extractor on the otter. Edited to remove the hot spot on the tail.




Thoughts? I've got about 200 frames of this guy and another pair...the pair was active and not 'fluffy' like this guy. I haven't attempted to really edit any of the pair yet. This guy was a much better subject.

[David Case]

Cropping and editing images is of course highly subjective, but I don't mind giving you my opinion. First, I would crop a bit more off the bottom and right sides to move the otter's face more away from the center. This establishes more of a lead in to the image with the eye being drawn first to the face and then moving up and to the left towards the tail and flippers. Generally positioning the point of interest too close to the center of the frame results in static compositions. Another benefit is that it draws the otter closer to us and gives the shot more intimacy.

Second, the lighting is a bit soft so the image could use some more contrast. I would also add a bit of sharpening. With good photo editing software there is a lot more that can be done. For my sample edit though all I used was the Preview program on my Mac, just doing the cropping, more contrast, and some sharpening that I mentioned. I hope this helps and is what you were looking for!