Cropping a shot is a great exercise – you can find completely new images within an existing frame.

Here’s a shot with lots going on, probably too much to be an effective shot on its own. We have a few rocks in the foreground and lots of lines and circles from the moving foamy water. It was taken on an overcast day, so no interesting light.

Crop 1 – Most of the shot…

So to start with, I’ve gone mono and done a little work bringing out detail in a few areas, the bank at the top being the most obvious. So just a basic crop to make things sit better – the stone now in the bottom left “introduces” you to the shot, rather than acting as the focal point.

Crop 2 – Get rid of the circles

A stone and the circles maybe too much for one shot, so here we have a hint of the circles, then the stone at the bottom. Note how the diagonal lines from the foam now take on a larger role in the shot.

Crop 3 – Just the moving water

The exact opposite of crop 2, we’re now concentrating on the water. Putting the foam circle on the right par of the shot allows space for the diagonal lines to lead us in from the bottom left of the shot. The rugged bank makes more impact too.

Crop 4 – Eye of the Storm

This is a cool-toned version, adding blues in there to change the feel. This is as tight a crop on the spiral as I was comfortable attempting. The flat-edged stone in the right corner nicely points to the middle of the spiral. 

Crop 5 – On the Rocks

And finally, just the main pebble – a hint of water flowing by.

Which is best?

To be honest, none of them are going to get on to a magazine front cover, nor may wall, but the exercise of trying to find different images within one image is the key part of this example. Each crop has used compositional ideas such as lead lines and the rule of thirds, which hopefully you can spot.

So next time you’re a bit stuck with a shot, get stuck in and hack away, you never know what you may find!