Magical Cropping & Colouring

Most of the good photographs are not the ones that have directly come out of the camera, instead are the ones that have been made more impressive with some creative post-processing. Many a times the environment and lighting may not help in achiving the desired composition and effects. In such cases, post-processing the original image can help.  

Here I will briefly cover how to make a good snap out of an ordinary looking and possibly defective one; with the two most basic techniques i.e., cropping and colouring the images, to get a better effect.

This snap is the front view of Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna. The picture has a vast empty field as foreground, and enough sky on top to balance the scenery. Though reasonably good, the overall effect can be modified with cropping-out the empty sections.

 

With help of Kodak Easy Share  (freely downloadable software from Kodak), the empty-field in foreground and the sky in the background have been cropped-out, in effect changing the overall composition. This simple change gives a panaromic impression of the palace and its sorroundings, which is completely different from the original photograph.

Here is a snap of Hofburg Area, Vienna which lacks almost any charm. The colour is almost dull; the foreground is distracted with a garbage bin. This snap simply fails to attract the viewer. With a combination of cropping and applying scenic color effect to the snap, a completely different and stunning result is achieved below.

First the image has been closely cropped to exclude the unattractive foreground, leaving only the building and just enough of the green grass in front. Once done, with help of Kodak Easy Share, the image has been applied sunset effect multiple times (three times).

The end-result is quite different and far more pleasant than the original one.

So, anytime you feel that a snap is simply not good enough, try applying cropping and coloring; and the result can be something beyond your imagination.

!!! Always keep a copy of the original photograph. !!!

[Snaps Taken: October 2010]