Continued

Before&After ® XiBAmagazine.com U

Pix Trix 1 0633

Cropping basics

PixTrix1

How to crop photos for function and meaning

Continued JASON HARTFORD

of the GAMELOVEFor the

A CENTURY OF BASEBALL

Before&After ®

2 of 10

XiBAmagazine.com U

Pix Trix 1 0633

Unify Crop mugs the same size

Start with the picture that has the least cropping room, and make the others match.

Before Straight from the cam-era they’re good shots that have color, background and even poses in common, but the view-ing distances are unequal. Note how the closeup (bottom right) seems most important.

After Mug shots in a row or group should be presented uniformly. Start with the most closely cropped original (above, left), then scale and crop the others to match. Position the results along the eye-level line. You’ll need your eye for this, because heads are funny. Male and female adult heads are surprisingly similar in size, but head shape, hairstyle, angle and tilt all have a big effect on perceived size, which can mean making small scaling and cropping adjustments so they all look alike.

Pix Trix 1 2 of 10

Before&After ®

3 of 10

XiBAmagazine.com U

Pix Trix 1 0633

Pix Trix 1 3 of 10

Position Crop closeups at eye level

Eye to eye A portrait close enough to convey eye-to-eye contact should be cropped at eye level, which is about two-fifths of the way down the page. Note that the closer you zoom, the more intense the connection becomes.

Up and away Because distant objects appear higher in a visual field, as you zoom out, move her eye level toward the top.

Before&After ®

4 of 10

XiBAmagazine.com U

Pix Trix 1 0633

Simplify Crop out the dead stuff

Who are those strangers? Photos taken in real life almost always contain stuff you don’t want, like the backs of distant strangers in a vacant air terminal. The first rule of photo cropping is to get rid of everything that doesn’t contribute to the composition.

Tight, focused, compelling Well and simply cropped, every square inch tells a story of friendship and intensity.

Pix Trix 1 4 of 10

Before&After ®

5 of 10

XiBAmagazine.com U

Pix Trix 1 0633

Angle Level those horizons

Don’t empty the bay! (Above) It’s easy to overlook a slightly tilted horizon, especially when another angle (the bridge) is thrown in. But horizons should be level, and water must be level. When a photo has water, think of a soup bowl, and don’t spill it. Leveling an image will require cropping all four sides.

Be bold! While a camera tilt (left) is weak, ambiguous and undesirable, a bold, artistic tilt can energize a composition! It’s especially effective on images that have strong, straight lines like those at right.

Pix Trix 1 5 of 10

Before&After ®

6 of 10

XiBAmagazine.com U

Pix Trix 1 0633

Zoom Crop to tell a story

JASON HARTFORD

of the GAMELOVEFor the

A CENTURY OF BASEBALL

Different distances tell different stories Above left is a baseball in the dirt, completely pedestrian; at arm’s length you’d pick it up and throw it. But zoom in (right), and the story is differ-ent. This is an intimate distance. You see the leather, the dirt, the seam, the weathering. They “fill the screen,” activate your senses. You can feel the ball in your hand. You hear the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd; you can touch the history of the game.

Good photos reveal worlds within worlds. Zoom in and see what you find. You’ll be surprised.

Pix Trix 1 6 of 10

Before&After ®

7 of 10

XiBAmagazine.com U

Pix Trix 1 0633

Pix Trix 1 7 of 10

Extreme Crop to fit a space

http://www.sewingbasics.net

Unlike traditional zippers that have exposed teeth, invisible zippers are designed

with coils that run the length of the zipper tape and roll inward, with coils concealed

by the zipper tape. The result is a no-show opening that, when closed, looks like a

continuous seam, without any top-stitching or fabric lapped over to cover zipper

teeth. Texture and flasp net exating end mist of it snooling. Spaff forl isn’t cubular

but quastic, leam restart that can’t prebast. It’s tope, this fluant chasible. Texture

and flasp net exating end mist of it snooling. Spaff forl isn’t cubular but quastic,

leam restart that can’t prebast. It’s tope, this fluant chasible.

Elesara and order is fay of alm. A card whint not oogum or bont. Pretty simple,

glead and tarm. Texture and flasp net exating end mist of it snooling. tnt not oogum

or bont. Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture and flasp net exating end mist of

it snooling. Spaff forl isn’t cubular but quastic, leam restart that can’t prebast. It’s

tope, this fluant chasible. Silk, shast, lape and behast the thin chack. “It has larch to

say fan.” Why? Elesara and order is fay of alm.

Texture and flasp net exating end mist of it snooling. Spaff forl isn’t cubular but

quastic, leam restart that can’t prebast. It’s tope, this fluant chasible. Silk, shast,

lape and behast the thin chack. “It has larch to say fan.” Why? Elesara and order is

fay of alm. A card whint not oogum or bont. Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture

and flasp net exating end mist of it snooling. Can’t not oogum or bont. Pretty

Keyword Search:

How to Insert an Invisible Zipper

Fabric

Fabric Width Conversion Chart

Sewing Sheer Fabrics

Tips for Sewing Fleece

Working with Satin Fabrics

Fleece Techniques

Fleece for Pets

Weaving Workshop

Decorative Edges

Fleece at Trim

Attention to Detail

Garment Details

Creating the Broomstick Look

Easy Machine Hems

What are Darts?

September 12, 2006

Sewing Basics

A photographic banner is a simple way to beautify a Web site or blog. But how do you fit such an extremely shallow space? By cutting an extreme slice! You’ll be surprised by how much a slice can show. Look for one that has some of everything—in this case, needle and thread, buttons, tape measure. Here, high color contrasts (red, yellow, white, black) are a bonus; they boldly distin-guish each element.

Before&After ®

8 of 10

XiBAmagazine.com U

Pix Trix 1 0633

AMBERCOLLEGE

www.ambercollege.edu

“Amber College

is a great place for

higher education.”

AMY LACHEY, STUDENT

Position Crop to change a meaning

The original photo has lots of room on the sides, so it’s good for cropping. The problem is that her gaze is unin-volved with our message, like maybe she sees a bird on the roof. But don’t throw this image away. Instead . . .

Crop boldly! Zoom in and push her radically to the right, off the page, which adds mystery. Just like that, our sense is no longer that she’s looking at a bird but thinking about the school. You’ll find similarly alterable meanings in many images.

Pix Trix 1 8 of 10

Before&After ®

9 of 10

XiBAmagazine.com U

Pix Trix 1 0633

Pix Trix 1 9 of 10

Typefaces

1 Centaur SC & OsF | 69 pt

2 (a–b) Centaur Bold OsF | a) 132 pt b) 79 pt

3 ITC Franklin Gothic Book | 31.5 pt

4 ITC Franklin Gothic Demi | 21 pt

5 Franklin Gothic Std No. 2 Roman 34.5/18 pt

6 Century Expanded Medium | 19 pt

Images

7 (a–j) iStockphoto.com | a b c d e f g h i j

8 (a–c) Rubberball.com | a b c

Article resources

Colors

C25 M100 Y100 K20

C0 M55 Y100 K50

9

10

9

10 AMBERCOLLEGE

www.ambercollege.edu

“Amber College

is a great place for

higher education.”

AMY LACHEY, STUDENT

5

7b

6

JASON HARTFORD

of the GAMELOVEFor the

A CENTURY OF BASEBALL

17a

2a1

4

7f 7h

7i

7j7e

7d

7c

8a 8b 7g 8c

2b3

Before&After

10 of 10 | Printing formats

® XiBAmagazine.com U

Pix Trix 1 0633

Pix Trix 1 10 of 10

Before & After magazine Before & After has been sharing its practical approach to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before & After is dedicated to making graphic design understand-able, useful and even fun for everyone.

John McWade Publisher and creative directorGaye McWade Associate publisherVincent Pascual Staff designerDexter Mark Abellera Staff designer

Design advisor Gwen Amos Before & After magazine323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678 Telephone 916-784-3880 Fax 916-784-3995E-mail mailbox@bamagazine.com www http://www.bamagazine.com

Copyright ©2006 Before & After magazine ISSN 1049-0035. All rights reserved.

You may pass along a free copy of this article to others by clicking here. You may not alter this article, and you may not charge for it. You may quote brief sections for review; please credit Before & After magazine, and let us know. To link Before & After magazine to your Web site, use this URL: http://www.bamagazine.com. For all other permissions, please contact us.

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Be

fore

&A

fter | w

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.bamagazine.com

1 of 5

Pix

Trix 1: C

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pin

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0633 P

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Cropping basics

PixTrix1

How

to crop p

hotos for

fun

ction an

d m

eanin

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JAS

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of the GA

ME

LOV

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A C

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Unify C

rop m

ugs the sam

e size

Start with the picture that has the least cropping room

, and m

ake the others match.

Be

fore

Straight from the cam

-era they’re good shots that have color, background and even poses in com

mon, but the view

-ing distances are unequal. N

ote how

the closeup (bottom right)

seems m

ost important.

Afte

r Mug shots in a row

or group should be presented uniformly. Start w

ith the most closely

cropped original (above, left), then scale and crop the others to match. P

osition the results along the eye-level line. You’ll need your eye for this, because heads are funny. M

ale and female adult heads are

surprisingly similar in size, but head shape, hairstyle, angle and tilt all have a big effect on perceived

size, which can m

ean making sm

all scaling and cropping adjustments so they all look alike.

Be

fore

&A

fter | w

ww

.bamagazine.com

2 of 5

Pix

Trix 1: C

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pin

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0633 P

ix Trix

1: Cro

pp

ing

ba

sics

Position Crop

closeups at eye level

Eye

to e

ye A

portrait close enough to convey eye-to-eye contact should be cropped at eye level, w

hich is about two-fifths of the w

ay down the page.

Note that the closer you zoom

, the more intense the connection becom

es.

Up

an

d a

wa

y Because distant objects

appear higher in a visual field, as you zoom

out, move her eye level tow

ard the top.

Simplify C

rop out th

e dead

stuff

Wh

o a

re th

ose

stran

ge

rs? Photos taken in real life alm

ost always

contain stuff you don’t want, like the backs of distant strangers in a vacant

air terminal. The first rule of photo cropping is to get rid of everything that

doesn’t contribute to the composition.

Tigh

t, focu

sed

, com

pe

lling

W

ell and simply cropped, every

square inch tells a story of friendship and intensity.

Be

fore

&A

fter | w

ww

.bamagazine.com

3 of 5

Pix

Trix 1: C

rop

pin

g b

asics 0633

0633 P

ix Trix

1: Cro

pp

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ba

sics

Angle Level th

ose horizon

s

JAS

ON

HA

RTFO

RD

of the GA

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LOV

EFor the

A C

EN

TUR

Y O

F BAS

EB

ALL

Zoom C

rop to tell a story

Diffe

ren

t dista

nce

s tell d

iffere

nt sto

ries A

bove left is a baseball in the dirt, com

pletely pedestrian; at arm’s length you’d

pick it up and throw it. B

ut zoom in (right), and the story is differ-

ent. This is an intimate distance. You see the leather, the dirt, the

seam, the w

eathering. They “fill the screen,” activate your senses. You can feel the ball in your hand. You hear the crack of the bat, the roar of the crow

d; you can touch the history of the game.

Good photos reveal w

orlds within w

orlds. Zoom in and see

what you find. You’ll be surprised.

Do

n’t e

mp

ty the

ba

y! (Above) It’s easy to overlook a slightly tilted horizon, especially w

hen another angle (the bridge) is throw

n in. But horizons should be level, and w

ater must be level. W

hen a photo has water, think of a soup

bowl, and don’t spill it. Leveling an im

age will require cropping all four sides.

Be

bo

ld! W

hile a camera tilt

(left) is weak, am

biguous and undesirable, a bold, artistic tilt can energize a com

position! It’s especially effective on im

ages that have strong, straight lines like those at right.

Be

fore

&A

fter | w

ww

.bamagazine.com

4 of 5

Pix

Trix 1: C

rop

pin

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asics 0633

0633 P

ix Trix

1: Cro

pp

ing

ba

sics

Extreme C

rop to fi

t a space

Position Crop

to chan

ge a mean

ing

http://w

ww

.sewingb

asics.net

Un

like tradition

al zipp

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ave exposed

teeth, in

visible zipp

ers are design

ed

with

coils that ru

n th

e length

of the zip

per tap

e and

roll inw

ard, w

ith coils con

cealed

by the zip

per tap

e. Th

e result is a n

o-show

open

ing th

at, wh

en closed

, looks like a

contin

uou

s seam, w

ithou

t any top

-stitchin

g or fabric lapp

ed over to cover zip

per

teeth. T

exture an

d fl

asp n

et exating en

d m

ist of it snoolin

g. Spaff forl isn

’t cubu

lar

but qu

astic, leam restart th

at can’t p

rebast. It’s tope, th

is flu

ant ch

asible. Textu

re

and

flasp

net exatin

g end

mist of it sn

ooling. Sp

aff forl isn’t cu

bular bu

t quastic,

leam restart th

at can’t p

rebast. It’s tope, th

is flu

ant ch

asible.

Elesara an

d ord

er is fay of alm. A

card w

hin

t not oogu

m or bon

t. Pretty sim

ple,

glead an

d tarm

. Textu

re and

flasp

net exatin

g end

mist of it sn

ooling. tn

t not oogu

m

or bont. P

retty simp

le, glead an

d tarm

. Textu

re and

flasp

net exatin

g end

mist of

it snoolin

g. Spaff forl isn

’t cubu

lar but qu

astic, leam restart th

at can’t p

rebast. It’s

tope, th

is flu

ant ch

asible. Silk, shast, lap

e and

behast th

e thin

chack. “It h

as larch to

say fan.” W

hy? E

lesara and

order is fay of alm

.

Textu

re and

flasp

net exatin

g end

mist of it sn

ooling. Sp

aff forl isn’t cu

bular bu

t

quastic, leam

restart that can

’t prebast. It’s top

e, this fl

uan

t chasible. Silk, sh

ast,

lape an

d beh

ast the th

in ch

ack. “It has larch

to say fan.” W

hy? E

lesara and

order is

fay of alm. A

card w

hin

t not oogu

m or bon

t. Pretty sim

ple, glead

and

tarm. T

exture

and

flasp

net exatin

g end

mist of it sn

ooling. C

an’t n

ot oogum

or bont. P

retty

Keyw

ord

Search

:

How

to Insert an

Invisible Z

ipp

er

Fab

ric

Fabric W

idth

Conversio

n C

hart

Sew

ing S

heer Fab

rics

Tip

s for S

ewin

g Fleece

Workin

g w

ith S

atin Fab

rics

Fle

ece

Tech

niq

ues

Fleece for Pets

Weavin

g W

orksh

op

Deco

rative Edges

Fleece at Trim

Atten

tion to

Detail

Garm

en

t Deta

ils

Creatin

g th

e Bro

om

stick Look

Easy M

achin

e Hem

s

What are D

arts?

Septem

ber 12, 200

6

Sewing B

asics

AM

BE

RC

OLLE

GE

ww

w.am

bercollege.edu

“Am

ber College

is a great place for

higher education.”

AM

Y L

AC

HE

Y, S

TU

DE

NT

A p

ho

tog

rap

hic b

an

ne

r is a simple w

ay to beautify a W

eb site or blog. But how

do you fit such an extremely

shallow space? B

y cutting an extreme slice! You’ll be

surprised by how m

uch a slice can show. Look for one

that has some of everything—

in this case, needle and thread, buttons, tape m

easure. Here, high color contrasts

(red, yellow, w

hite, black) are a bonus; they boldly distin-guish each elem

ent.

The

orig

ina

l ph

oto

has lots of room on the sides, so it’s

good for cropping. The problem is that her gaze is unin

-volved w

ith our message, like m

aybe she sees a bird on the roof. B

ut don’t throw this im

age away. Instead . . .

Cro

p b

old

ly! Zoom in and push her radically to

the right, off the page, which adds m

ystery. Just like that, our sense is no longer that she’s looking at a bird but thinking about the school. You’ll find sim

ilarly alterable meanings in m

any images.

Be

fore

&A

fter | w

ww

.bamagazine.com

5 of 5

Pix

Trix 1: C

rop

pin

g b

asics 0633

0633 P

ix Trix

1: Cro

pp

ing

ba

sics

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bscrib

e to

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1 Centaur SC

& O

sF | 69 pt

2 (a–b

) Centaur B

old OsF | a) 132 pt

b) 79 pt

3 ITC Franklin G

othic Book | 31.5 pt

4 ITC Franklin G

othic Dem

i | 21 pt

5 Franklin Gothic Std N

o. 2 Rom

an 34.5/18 pt

6 Century Expanded M

edium | 19 pt

Ima

ge

s

7 (a–j) iStockphoto.com

| a

b c

d e

f g

h i

j

8 (a–c) R

ubberball.com |

a b

c

Article

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urce

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ER

CO

LLEG

Ew

ww

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“Am

ber College

is a great place for

higher education.”

AM

Y L

AC

HE

Y, S

TU

DE

NT

5 7b

6

JAS

ON

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RTFO

RD

of the GA

ME

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EFor the

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