The composition of a photograph can either draw the eye to your work, or fail to get across the desired message to the viewer. Many elements are needed to create a wonderful photograph, but composition is one of the most important. Composition deals with how the various elements of the photograph work together in both placement and interaction to convey what the photographer sees and feels.



Good composition is really what sets apart really good photographers from mediocre ones. Now while there are many aspects of good composition, framing or cropping of an image is an important part.

Photoshop can enhance the composition of a photograph through the use of the cropping tool. With this tool, you can quickly and effortlessly cut out parts of the photo that you don't want or that divert focus from the main subject. By allowing you to measure areas to be cut, Photoshop makes cropping as exact as you need it to be.

One of the major advantages of the cropping tools in Photoshop is that correcting mistakes or even starting over after cropping is easy. All you have to do go back to the beginning and try again. You can basically try out with an infinite number of possibilities.

Better Cropping Tips:

Rule of Thirds:

One example of the differences between the professional and the novice photographer is in the placement of the subject within the image. The professional seldom centers the subject in the picture, while the amateur almost always does. Place the subject off center for a much more professional and eye-catching result. Imagine lines dividing your image into thirds and crop your picture accordingly so that the subject lies in one of the outer thirds. Make a copy of the original photograph in a separate folder for reference, and then try out cropping your subject using the rule of thirds.

Crop to Traditional Print Sizes

When cropping your pictures check the sizing to make sure they will print in a standard size such as 4x6. If they do not correspond to these sizes try cutting a little more off. Otherwise when you take them into print at the local lab the photo lab may have to crop them even more to make them print the right size.

Photoshop makes it so easy to crop your photos that you really won't have to worry about the framing when you take the picture on your camera because you can just fix it later on your computer. Regardless of whether you use Photoshop Elements or the more advanced version, Photoshop CS, the technical aspects of using the cropping tool are essentially the same.