p.1 #1 · Friday Night Lights: What's your cropping philosophy?
I crop tight and try to make each image an action portrait, so to speak, since I'm shooting for momma. But, the other night another very experienced shooter was saying he shoots for "impact", meaning he tries to get more than one player in the shot in order to boost sales potential.
What do you do?
Below is what I typically do; not always, but generally what I try to get.
If anyone thinks I'm shooting too tight, please chime in. Anything to boost pitiful online sales
p.1 #4 · Friday Night Lights: What's your cropping philosophy?
I'm with Andy, crop to make the most of the photo. As for your online sales, have a look at this post I put up about a month ago. Last year I only took in a couple hundred dollars from online sales. This year I've had to turn some people away as I've had too many orders to fulfill.
p.1 #5 · Friday Night Lights: What's your cropping philosophy?
I crop to tell a story. If there is a player or object that needs to be in the then I leave it in and will crop it loose. Example would be a football a coaches or referee's expression etc..
BTW these crops look good.
p.1 #6 · Friday Night Lights: What's your cropping philosophy?
I really like your tight crops in your photos.
I shoot a lot of soccer and the parents and players usually purchase the tight, isolation crops of the individual player. (Kind of a POSTER shot.) When I shoot soccer, I try to get both types of images. After a while, I end up with a lot of the tight crops and they all tend to look the same from game to game. Loosening up and catching the peak action also sells. I do like your crops in the football images that you posted.
p.1 #7 · Friday Night Lights: What's your cropping philosophy?
I appreciate the input, folks.
Chris (HawksFan66): so when you shoot a game now, you're only shooting for those who have pre-ordered? How many pre-orders will you accept for a game? Thanks for the link.
p.1 #8 · Friday Night Lights: What's your cropping philosophy?
I shoot the whole game but focus on the ones I've taken orders from. I'm not shooting by the game. Was not sure that I could come through with the number of shots I guaranteed if I did it by game. I've had about 15 orders for football, more than that for volleyball and about 20 for basketball. A couple stragglers for wrestling and track, nothing yet for baseball.
p.1 #9 · Friday Night Lights: What's your cropping philosophy?
Hey Dennis. I looked for an example but nothing jumped out at me but you can sometimes copy a shot and make two crops. One tight and the other a little looser to show another player or two in the same frame.
One thing I noticed on the shots you put up here is that a little levels pinch and a touch of sharpening will go a long way toward making them pop.
p.1 #12 · Friday Night Lights: What's your cropping philosophy?
I'm just starting out myself, so take my post with a large grain of salt.
I think the crops are very good for the shots. I'm very new but I try to get either the whole player, or crop over the knee. Your #1 and #3 don't follow this, but they still look good (much better than when I try cropping below the knee), so maybe I need to rethink my rules!
I can't speak from selling experience, so maybe someone else can chime in on this, but I would expect shots more like 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 to get sales because mom can clearly see her son's face. While I don't think shots like 1 and 2 are at all bad, I imagine a mom would care a little more about recognizing her son in the image than necessarily having great action. If you sell package deals, a mix of action/wider and face/closer shots would probably be great, as has been mentioned.
I think you've also done a very good job cropping considering you've restricted your aspect ratio. I do the same (having prints in mind), but find it restricting. For the people who sell digital copies, do you guys find it beneficial to open up to non-standard ratios? Even if you don't try other ratios, for the action shots (which I understand you didn't post here but probably have) I imagine 4x6 would often work better than 6x4 and give some variety. Overall I like the tighter crops, but would think having more options/crop variety available for buyers could only help sales.
This is just my uneducated opinion, so experts feel free to refute anything I say and help Dennis and myself learn
p.1 #14 · Friday Night Lights: What's your cropping philosophy?
Nikon Rob,
I believe one of the "rules" is don't crop on a joint, but crop between joints and that's what I try to do.
My aspect ratio is what is required by MaxPreps: 1600 x 2166. From MaxPreps' perspective, it is the most efficient ratio from which one can get standard size prints: 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 8 x 10, 11 x 14, etc.
Packages are great idea and, to my knowledge, MaxPreps doesn't have packages. Yes, I should probably get my own online sales solution and offer packages myself. Something to mull over, for sure.
