When considering how to compose your image, or crop in post production, one tip is to be observant of joints. Pay attention to crop lines that dissect wrists, fingers, elbows, knees, and ankles. For reasons you may not be able to put your finger on – crops at this joints will look awkward. This applies mainly to portraiture, but I promise it’s true of animals, too.
Special thanks to my hot hubby who made this awesome example of awkwardness for you all. Charged with, “Hey babe, shoot an awkward limb crop for my blog, will ya?” He made this:
How many joint crops are possible in one photo??? It just looks weird, right? Yeah, don’t shoot like that. 
Taking a few extra moments to carefully compose your image can save lots of time in post and a whole bunch of strange-looking results. If you can batch process lighting or coloring tweaks instead of opening every image to fix poorly composed images with a crop you will work much faster. Cropping in post production is considered destructive and often results in lower resolution. I recommend cropping a digital copy because cropped pixels are irretrievable after saving.
(I’m applauding myself here for finally having a brief post! woot!)
Hey! We made it halfway through the series!
Don’t forget to visit all the other 31 Dayers!
great tip Darcy!
This never occurred to me. Extreme thanks for jointing me in the right crop.
I don’t know how I ended up finding your blog….but it was the perfect time! The daily feeds are outstanding – I highly recommend that everyone subscribe – invaluable information in a clear, concise manner. I love it…..can you tell?!
Who would have thought? Great tip, girl.
Lovin’ your series. xo
Brief but IMPORTANT! (I’m cramming for a great Christmas photo shoot in a few days!)
This is great stuff! Especially for me the newby!
I noticed in this shot the background was blurred.. I know it has to do with aperture, but how do I do it?