Reply To: Beginner here. Please let me know what you think

[dont.care]

Well, in my opinion I hate rules, but cropping rules are there for a good reason..

Say-> You crop someones arm below the elbow,  they instantly look amputated… So, any crops that have to be done in that area, keep it above the elbow..

The knees, is essentially the same; below the knees and it looks amputated and directly above the feet it looks like their feet are stuck in the nether world..

When arms hands and feet are involved, don’t crop the digits.. Never crop tight on feet, leave some ground leading upto the feet

Closeup head shots, you can crop into the face, but don’t crop off the ears and don’t crop below 1″ above the eye and don’t under crop if you do it, otherwise it’ll look like a mistake

don’t half crop any ones anything, if you’re going to amputate, take the whole thing. so if the arm is hanging down the side of the crop line, take the arm. don’t crop it in half. Although, it’s better to make sure you don’t have to do that.. Otherwise you’re potentially cropping into the torso.

So, above the elbow, above the knees,  never below 1″ above the eye, etc etc..

DOF, move closer and stop down your lens, same physics apply.  Alot of photographers get worried that their client might think they’re taking too long to “get the shot”, it’s easy enough to reassure your client that they are paying for “the shot” and if they want it right, they’ll give you time to make your adjustments.. Although this falls into experience which is why you should never take a job until your absolutely comfortable with making these kinds of adjustments on the fly and ultimately, you should know what you need to do before you ever set up for the shot :\

Move away -> Stop up your lens to shallow your DOF, so 4.0 to 1.8 for example

Move close -> Stop down your lens to shallow your DOF 1.8 to 4.0 for example

Distance & Aperture are both relative to DOF