How would you crop this?

[vegematic]

In this image of Doubletop the shoreline cuts just about across the middle of the image, violating the all-important rule of thirds. What would an effective crop that retains both the mountain and its reflection?

-vegematic

 

[nartreb]

Highly symmetric scenes are probably the most frequently acknowledged exception to the rule of thirds.

I'd play up the symmetry (and de-emphasize the horizontal shoreline) by cropping fairly tightly around the mountain and its reflection:

In any event, crop out the white artifacts from the bottom left and top right of the frame.

 

[kmorgan]

Personally I'd just keep it rectangular. I like a wider shot. I just cropped from the bottom of the inclusion in the upper right to just above the one on the bottom. Like so:



Kevin

 

[David Metsky]

I'd do everything I could to get the mountain out of the center of the shot. If I could get more water in the shot while keeping the real summit, I would.

I also did a little color correction and sharpening.

 

[Grumpy]

I endorse the comments and crops posted by nartreb and Dave Metsky.

Centering the primary visual feature (the mountain peak) left-to-right in this scene is of far more concern to me than placement of the horizon. The symmetry of the reflection almost begs to have the horizon more-or-less centered. So:

1) Crop horizontally to eliminate the white wedges in the upper right and lower left of the frame. When this is done, you have the real image with which you can work.

2) Don’t mess much with further horizontal cropping. Instead, play with vertical crops that move the mountain peak to various left-right positions in the frame.

Remember, the rule of thirds should be used as a point of departure – a starting point – for composition, but only that. It provides excellent guidance in many or most cases, but is not inviolable.

Nice shot, by the way!

G.

 

[kmorgan]

...I agree with Grumpy on reflection. I like Dave's crop best so far.

Kevin

 

[vegematic]

Thanks for all the excellent feedback, folks. It's interesting (and instructive) to see what different photographers will do with the same image. I also prefer a wider shot, particularly Dave's off-centered crop.

The artifacts, by the way, were due to my having rotated the image so that the trees, which were generally vertical in real life, appeared that way in the shot.

-vegematic

 

[Grumpy]

... The artifacts, by the way, were due to my having rotated the image so that the trees, which were generally vertical in real life, appeared that way in the shot.

I don't know about the term, "artifacts." As far as I can see, those white wedges simply lie outside the recorded image area.

Tilted horizons (or leaning verticals) are an eternal curse. Back in film days before autofocus became the norm, all my cameras were fitted with ground glass viewing screens that had etched grids. This at least helped keep horizons level. Something similar is available for my current digital SLR (Nikon D2Hs), but I haven't really checked out that option -- there's plenty of other stuff to fret over, as far as I can tell!

G.

 

[vegematic]

Using your collective input I tried this crop. By putting the mountain to the left I was able to include more water while still excluding the artifact. (apologies to grumpy, it's easier than saying "white wedges that lie outside the recorded image area" .)

-vegematic

 

[Grumpy]

"Artifacts," eh? Harumph! You say it your way, I'll say it mine.

But I am glad you cleaned up your borders.

I've liked this photo from the first moment I saw it. I must say that Dave Metsky's framing appeals to me more than your final crop, though.

What I like about Dave's version is that it provides some related subject matter (reflected trees with detail in both original and reflection) to the left. The left-to-right downward slope of the treetop horizon (upward in the reflection) forms a leading pointer, taking my eye right to the main event -- the mountaintop and swirling clouds. In short, every part of the frame is loaded up with good, functional visual material.

Just my never humble opinion.

G.

 

[JohnL]

I took Kevin's crop and cropped it a little closer to the actual summit. I liked the dead center symmetry of the photo using the peaks and the shoreline. I also liked the imaginary line of the top of the trees on the left pointing right to the heart of the mountain, both from the real side and from the reflection side. I played with the saturation and contrast but that's only personal preferences. The key question was the crop. I liked David's crop as well as v's final crop but I kept coming back to the
centric symmetry . Rule of Thirds be damned. Ooops, darned.

JohnL