for the love of the crop.

I have said this before, but I have like seven tricks for taking photos. (See them here.) I do the same few things over and over again because I love the results that I get. One thing I haven't written too much about is another favorite technique...

THE ART OF THE CROP.

I'm giving it it's own post because it's a big one! And some of my very favorite shots were cropped from less than awesome original images.

I have two ways of getting photos of me or me and Ellerie. The first is using the timer (or timercam on the iPhone). I beat this to death (sample one, two, three). I love the timer and I have talked about it endlessly. My favorite part about using the timer is the natural horizon that occurs when the camera is placed on the ground or flat surface. Eight out of ten shots look great (to my eye) from this perspective.

The second, is, of course, handing the camera off to someone else. Most often, that's Paul. Paul is AWESOME about photo taking. He smiles for photos. He is happy to be in photos. He appreciates good photos. As long as we keep the session short, he's totally happy to take them for me. He gets it. And I am grateful for that.

I am also SUPER picky and impatient (two winning traits, I know). So here is what we have figured out works well for us:

1. I find the space for the shot (usually a graphic or blank wall).
2. I make sure the lighting is good (usually the magic hour before sunset).
3. I hand the camera (usually an iPhone) to Paul and dash (occasionally with Ellerie) into position.
4. Paul knows to hold the camera level (tilted photos are my worst nightmare) and to take a bunch. (usually like 5-10.)
5. I dash back to Paul, take a look at what we got and 9 times out of 10, I say "GREAT" and we move on with our lives.

Then, later, I scroll through, find the "best" shot (generally based on my/our expression and rarely when we were perfectly posed) and crop it to what (to my eye) looks awesome.

It's not magic and it's totally scripted (I just wrote it out exactly how it unfolds). But it takes 45 seconds (which is ideal for Paul and Ellerie). And it results in photos I love (which is ideal for me).

Oh, Crop. I adore you, you art form, you.

all photos were taken with my iPhone and processed with the VSCO app.