Mar 30, 2009

cropping for fun and profit! -or- how you too can learn to stop worrying and enjoy the process.

that has GOT to be the longest blog title i've ever written.

but i digress. and look! a new record for my attention span; i've digressed in the first sentence.
gooooooooooooooooooooooo me!

anyway -
it occurred to me today how cropping a photo can make it go from 'eh', to 'eeeeee gods! what photographic genius took this miraculous snippit of nature?!'

and i do realize that this isn't new to anyone else. nor will it cure the world's ills and set Wall Street back on its merry little cash-making way, but it was just one of those things that the more i thought of it, the more i realized what a difference it can make.

let me demonstrate.

here's our cat. Elvis the Evil Wunderkat. a blah photo. an eeeee-vil gleam in his eyes. but! through the wonders of cropping....

now you can see how evilly his eyes gleam. and how i SO needed to pick up the extension cord from the floor.

let's try another example, shall we? roadside daisies before...and - through the miracle of the crop tool...why look! a bouquet of daisies fit enough to grace a table.

just one more to bore you with. but it never ceases to amaze me how a photo, like this of my niece, while still good....can, with a little time and care, be transformed into something that just takes my breath away.


and hopefully, that of the judges in this year's OC Fair.


yes - with just a little care and experimentation, kids, you too can take photos to another level. amaze your friends! confound your enemies!


just don't expect it to work miracles for things like this:

after all, i am NOT a miracle worker.

5 comments:

doodlebugmom said...

oh the power of editing. It can also be used to get rid of exes and thistles.

Jessica said...

What program do you use to crop with?

and what is wrong with the cows?...Huh...I can smell them from here.

Valerie said...

Hey Jessica - thanks for stopping by!
for cropping, i use either Microsoft's Digital Image Suite or i'll even use the cropping tool in Microsoft's picture editor that comes with your computer.

and there's nothing wrong with the cows - just that my best friend called me after i posted this photo as my blog header, laughing hysterically because the cow on the far left has its tail raised...just about to drop a steaming patty. so i guess it's kinda inside joke, but i think there's a post on it if you go reading the past moments...

Melissa said...

Yes! I use cropping all the time at work (since I don't get much chance to use it in an actual scrapbook these days)! It can really help a photo, even if you thought you were filling the frame when you took it.

Susie Q said...

Oh baby. When i discovered cropping it was like a light bulb went on above my big head. Then I learned to sharpen, colorize, and even white out, clone and all sorts of goofy shtuff that makes it all so much better!
It is addictive and so much fun!!
And that pic of your niece is amazing!
Love,
Sue