Opinion on a crop please

[Alison]

I'm really stumped on my crop here.
Desk or no desk?
Your opinions will be greatly appreciated. TIA

[Coastal Flyer]

Alison,

I kind of stumped too, but I think I figured out why: the angle of the desk in relation to the book. If they were the same I might tend to leave in the desk but because they do not match, the angle disrupts the picture. I prefer the cropped shot, personally.

Regardless, I really like the shot and your subject. Man, he is just out. Great capture.

CF

[Greg McCary]

I think I like #2 better. The desk kind of draws my eye away from the subject in the first one...
Greg

[veggie]

I like #1, but I think it has to do with post editing. In #2 the subject and book are lighter than in #1.

Great shot!

[Canuck935]

Another vote for no desk!

[Dylan8i]

I like the one with the desk, but i think its because i prefer landscapes which have alot of surrounding detail as opposed to portraits that focus on 1 single subject.

the 2nd one just looks awkward to me, maybe if it was cropped higher in to the book.

[Trevor Ash]

I like the first one with the desk better. More balanced composition for me. I don't think the desk is a distraction. I think the person commenting about the different exposures could be wrong (I don't have tools to test right now). I think it's an optical illusion caused by the lack of black space, or perhaps something else, in one versus the other.

"the 2nd one just looks awkward to me"

I agree with that.

[Old Timer]

No brainer here. No desk.

[GB1]

No difference to me. I had a hard time even discerning between the two until I read the your writeup.

Cute pic btw

[mpreece]

I like the one with the desk, they both are good. The desk shot tells a story of falling asleep while trying to learn a lesson at school.

[readingr]

I think the one with the table is more balanced so I would plump for that one but both look terrific.

Roger

[Ronnoco]

With the desk, because the one without the desk also cuts off the elbow of the child which does not work as a crop.

Ronnoco

[RoxyRNAB]

With the desk, because the one without the desk also cuts off the elbow of the child which does not work as a crop.

Ronnoco

Sure Enough!

I Really Like The Original, Uncropped.

It's A Story...Stead Of Just The Cute Kid;)

[trog100]

try to remove extraneous detail is one thing but the missing elbow is going too far for the sake of it..

but either image works.. so ultimately there isnt much in it..

trog

[Ronnoco]

try to remove extraneous detail is one thing but the missing elbow is going too far for the sake of it..

but either image works.. so ultimately there isnt much in it..

trog

The point however is which image works best.

Ronnoco

[trog100]

i thought i had made that clear.. number one.. but seen as seperate presentations they would both work equally well.. or nearly so..

seen side by side its clear the the desire to lose the desk whilst at the same time losing the elbow was a mistake..

the interesting thing being the fact the desk dosnt detract from the image in the first place..

the other interesting thing is why the question needs asking at all.. and what is so important about the piece of desk that caused part of the subject to get cropped along with the desk..

anyways number one is best.. a bit of a no brainer really.. but the number two image is still a nice image missing elbow or not..

trog

[euphoria]

I prefer it *with* the desk.
Like several people have said, it looks more balanced and I agree the second looks a bit awkward.

[Alison]

Wow! This went a little further than I expected. Thank you so much for all the input.

I thought WITH the desk looked better too because it told the whole story. And, like many of you, I didn't like the fact that the second crop cut off her elbow either.
I just wanted my thoughts confirmed.

So, thank you, once again, for such a big reaction and awesome detailed CC. :thumbsup:

I love this forum!!!