Portrait Question?

[MonkeyWrench]

First Post in a long while. Been Busy.

This was taken some time ago. It was in a restaurant so we were close quartered. The picture is not cropped. It’s what I was able to fit in the frame with the lens that I had. My question is how much as a rule can you crop off the top of the head if that was the shot I was looking for? I think there should be more of the head here but I just loved the look.

Thanks Russ

[Old Timer]

Not sure I should be responding to this one Russ. But just my unlearned opinion... If I cut of the top of the head I try to equalize it with the same amount of crop to the back. In your example here I would crop to where the hair line meets the background white area. Landscape portraits that are centered rarely make it for me. Just my very humble opinion here.

[MonkeyWrench]

Thanks Larry,

Is this better?

[livin4lax09]

yes. but it needs more space in front of his face. It's too cramped as it is.

[Old Timer]

Thanks Larry,

Is this better?

Yes better, but to me this portrait is all about the eyes. Nothing else really matters. most everything on the right is dispensable. I'd get even more drastic and do something like this.

[MonkeyWrench]

Thanks Brent,

I was just taking advantage of some free time I had at work. I'll have to fish around at home and see what I have to work with, with the original. Thanks for the tip.

[Sebastian]

There are no rules as far as head cropping really...

Think of the ears, the eyes, the mouth, the curves of the head as design elements. The way you balance them in the frame is all that matters.

Out of these, I think I'd be leaning towards something along the lines of what OT did. Vertical, tight on the eyes. He makes a very good point about the other parts of the frame really not adding much to the shot.

BTW, you could have come very close to that result on location by just turning the camera vertical.

[MonkeyWrench]

Thanks Larry and Sebastian for your suggestions.
I really like your crop Larry. I think that is the one I will use. I found the original and had more space to the left like Brent suggested but the background was too distracting otherwise that would of been great too. I'll post it when I get home for comparison. Someone with better PS skills than my own maybe able to work on the BG. One of the things that I am having problems with is shedding the Snap-Shot mentality. Centered and Whole.

Sebastian thanks for the cropping tips as Ralph Macchio would say "I am still looking for balance". Finding the best frame for a picture for me sometimes is like the answer to a riddle you can't get. The answer seems obvious afer you hear it.

Once agian thank you all for taking the time to respond.