cropped or chopped?

Hi Hope!!
I was wondering... how do you feel about chopped limbs/hands/feet in portraits? Do you think it ruins the image? Or is it something that doesn't bother you too much?

I only ask because on one of the forums I'm on, it's like committing a deadly sin. But when I browse through many very professional photographers that I LOVE, they all seem to chop. What do you think?
Thanks!
Jill


Honestly, that kind of mob mentality is what turns me right off a lot of so-called semi-pro and pro organizations. There are technical and design elements that any person can be taught. Any monkey who knows the Rule of Thirds and the Rule of Red, never chops off a hand or a foot, who knows how to turn their camera onto auto can call themselves a photographer. If they can run a few actions they downloaded for Photoshop, they're considered genius. They create the vast majority of homogenized work I see out there. Formulaic bores me to death.

Now - because I do a fair bit of technical critiquing, I am often able to tell people what is formulaically wrong with their pictures. There was one fellow that I noticed in his body of work a tendency for every subject to be centred, only he was just slightly off centre by about the same amount in pretty much every picture. I suggested he shot crooked like I do, to which he replied it was intentional. He was covering his ass for his sloppy shooting, of course, but I can guarantee that the next time he notices it, it will be intentional. At that point, he KNOWS the rule, and is CHOOSING to break it.

It's the people who know the rules and disobey them that make waves, that make it difficult to pigeon hole them, especially if they disobey admirably or in a striking way. There have been times when I have accidentally shot a little too tight and I've lost just the fingers or the toes - that looks weird to me - but if the rest of the image is balanced, the lighting is great, everyone is smiling and looking at the camera, etc. and so forth, I'm not going to fret over some missing toes. I would, if anything, chop off MORE hands and feet (so it looks intentional) before passing it off as 'unusable.' Honestly, when is the last time you ever heard of any client saying, "Gee, I really like this shot. Too bad you can't see my husband's other foot though." I put far more value on what the client has to say about it. If the client hates it, then there's a problem. If another photographer hates it, well - they aren't the ones paying me. I don't care for a lot of work done by a lot of photographers - does it matter?  Nope.  I'm not the client.  A lot of photographers don't care for my work - does it matter?  Nope. They're not the client.

Luckily for us photographer types, there is no wrong or right. What I think is bad photography is dreamy to others and what I find stunning probably scares other people a little bit lol. Technically I am sure people would rip a lot of my work right apart - I'm not a technical photographer at all lol

Comments

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Unless otherwise noted, writing and watermarked images on this blog are copyrighted to Hope Walls.