The Crop Tool Creates Multiple Opportunities from a Single Photo

^{Note: This tip comes from the photography case study #1 ‘Action vs Static’ inside Photzy’s - 5 Extended Case-Studies on Bird Photography}

In any type of wildlife photography, the most interesting shots are often images where animal behavior is captured in action.

This is your classic bird-action shot. The bird is in flight, and it is also feeding.

When creating your bird photography, consider the end result. Can you compose in a manner that allows for multiple crops in both a horizontal and vertical format to extend the life and value of the image?

Are there areas in the frame where, if someone wanted to purchase the use of your bird photograph, they could drop copy (illustrative words)?

The above photo offers multiple cropping opportunities for different uses. It also has that expanse of yellow in the upper right background that gives art directors and editors a place to put words over the photograph.

By changing the crop, you can change the flow and direction of the composition. This may be important to a buyer as it gives them more opportunities for placement on a page.

The above version has forced the flow of the photo to the left. However, it still leaves room for copy.

The framing of this shot even leaves room for a pleasant vertical crop. If your photograph's final result is fine art or art décor, you want to create a cropped frame emphasizing the bird over the background, such as the vertical example above.

However, a flaw has been revealed.

In bird photography, unless you have an obvious reason not to, the plane of focus should always be placed at the eyes and face.

This type of flaw could easily prevent a sale.

Want more? If you want to learn more about bird photography, and capture beautiful shots of your own, we recommend downloading and printing out Photzy’s 10 Bird Photography Cheat Sheets (Special bonus available now!)