Cute Japanese Girl Photo Tells Different Story Cropped Four Ways
How you crop a photo dictates the story your photo will tell.
by Bob Kerstetter
When possible you want to photograph pictures to fill the frame. This means each photo contains everything you want and nothing else.
While nice in theory, perfect full-frame photos often happen by luck, especially when shooting action with you also on the move. At best you hope to capture your subject, plus some additional information. Latter you can improve your story by cropping.
So it happens at Senso-ji Temple (浅草寺) in the Asakusa (浅草) section of Tokyo, Japan. Cherry blossoms—sakura—fill the trees.
The action starts when a cute Japanese girl jumps for a happiness photo. While, you aspire to capture the photographer and the jumper, you capture much more.
The photo you share tells a slightly different story, depending on how you crop it.
In this unposed shot the girl focuses on the photographer.
Widen the view a bit and her grandmother notices your camera.
Pull in some more edge material and her mother looks at something down the street.
In its full frame, the photo shows everyone else going about their own business.
Only a tourist with a camera stops to watch.
The first cropping shows the picture you wanted. You moved too slow to shoot it in full frame.
