Middle School Basketball... cropping points

[tmalone893]

Please give me some CC and advice on these shots. I know that they need to be cropped tighter but here is the problem.
(I'm trying to sell prints to the parents and I'm using Zenfolio)

1. It seems that when I crop tight that the image doesn't work when printing a 4x6. Part of the person in the picture is cut off. What am I doing wrong?

2. I use center spot focus with spot metering on these shots. Where should the center spot be? On the face or chest? I was afraid if I went with the chest that the face would be out of focus.

The exif data is gone because I have to use Noiseware to clean them up.
SS 400-500, ISO 1600, 85mm 1.8

I appreciate your comments and advise.

Thanks,

Theron

1.
http://www.maloneactionshots.com/img/v6/p241470479-4.jpg
2.
http://www.maloneactionshots.com/img/v6/p271653274-4.jpg
3.
http://www.maloneactionshots.com/img/v5/p432414557-4.jpg
4.
http://www.maloneactionshots.com/img/v5/p287524505-4.jpg

[40Dude6aedyk]

I am using DPP for the most part for post-processing. I crop for 4x6 with the "trimming" tool in DPP. When I print for myself, I use Canon Easy PhotoPrint instead of printing from DPP. There is a big difference between printing with a border and without a border, so I typically crop larger, then re-crop in EZ-photoprint. I can use DPP for printing, but I have to set up the printer properties to reduce the default border and/or prevent underprinting.

As for cropping, you can see lots of 4x6 crops in my photos twsp.zenfolio.com . Not only do I look at the "action" and people, but I always look around the edges and try not to cut off some blurry piece in the background that would make my eye wander to it.

An example of this your last photo, you have a guy on the left who is cut in half. My brain says "Ouch! That guy is cut in half!" before I even see the basketball. You also have a guy on the right who is sliced in half. Do you like guillotines?

[40Dude6aedyk]

Look at your #1. It could be cropped tighter. Are you not bothered by the little black turd in the lower right corner? And the extra shoe heel along the bottom edge? And the grey door along the left edge? All these could be cropped away. One good thing is that you do not cut the door in pieces along the right-hand edge. That is, the picture will look better with the entire door frame in it than if the door frame on the right was cropped away leaving you with just part of a door.

[tmalone893]

Look at your #1. It could be cropped tighter. Are you not bothered by the little black turd in the lower right corner? And the extra shoe heel along the bottom edge? And the grey door along the left edge? All these could be cropped away. One good thing is that you do not cut the door in pieces along the right-hand edge. That is, the picture will look better with the entire door frame in it than if the door frame on the right was cropped away leaving you with just part of a door.

Thanks for the comments. This is what I'm talking about. How far up from the bottom on #1 would you crop, to the waist level just below the left arm.

I should have cleaned up the half body pics now that I looked at them again. But usually this is where I get myself into trouble. I crop as I've seen on here and load the pics up for sell. Then to test the site out I act as a buyer and put the pics into the cart. The 4x6s never come out right and half of the 5x7 or 8x10 work. This is the reason I've left more of the picture alone.

Are pics of basketball players from the waist up acceptable? And where should the center focus spot be aimed at?

[40Dude6aedyk]

Certainly would not cut off the hand in #1. But the flesh below the shorts is not necessary. As long as you leave the hand and crop above the hemline, I don't think it will really matter whether you go as high as the waist.

Of course, sometimes compromises have to be made and you cannot avoid chopping a head in half or an arm off. In this case, I just look at several crops and let my brain decide what is least offensive to me. For example, in your #2, you have some mysterious hands appearing from the left. If you crop them out, you will chop off the elbow of someone. I'd probably crop the bizarro-hands out and leave the left arm/hand of #13 in the result.

One more thing: I try not to crop through any lettering on the jersey or shorts. Seeing part of a letter makes my brain want to solve the puzzle: "What is that letter?" which my brain should not be doing.

As for center focus, if you aim at the head, then the top half of your photos will be pretty empty. I aim where the picture will look good without any cropping. I try to have my depth of field set to capture everthing I want in focus. I don't always do a good job of this. But why not do the experiment yourself: Take pics at a game, focus on the heads in the first half and lower down in the second half. Then come back here and tell us what worked for you.