So... today in class I was explaining the beauty of a magic tool. The Crop tool. This tool is found everywhere there are cameras or photos. From 2MP cameras of the 90s to iPhones and $5000 cameras of today, there is a huge probability that you can crop an image.
I took the image below as an example to show to my eager young minds. The point was to take a picture of something quick and simple, that could be improved upon by doing something simple.
Original Image
Enter our friend the crop tool. In all of 10 seconds in front of the class, I simply cropped away part of the image to move its position away from the dead centre of frame. This also had the added benefit of cutting out the horrible highlight at the top of the image.
Re-Framed
While this is not the most stunning image that you will see on the Internet, after 10 seconds of re-framing and 30 more seconds spent on a split tone, the final result is an improvement. The point of this post, and that lesson, is to make cropping your friend. If you get it right in camera its a wonderful thing, if not, crop.