Help with crop.

[eastcoast909]

I was going through some of my older pictures trying various photoshop actions on them when I came across this one.

This was taken when the tall ships were here in Halifax and the pictures I took at that time were in part responsible for my decision to upgrade from my S45.

This has all ready had one crop done to it to isolate the wood carver (what a fascinating subject to watch) and his carving (a wooden Bow Sprit for a tall ship).

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to better emphasize the Wood Carver and not the carving (although it may not be possible due to the angle of the original capture).

I have included both the original and the first crop attempt.

Do you think that I should try and crop just or around the table height and ignore the entire body of the carver?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/eastcoast909/Boats/BowspritCarving1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/eastcoast909/Boats/BowspritCarving.jpg

any help and comments are appreciated.

[geneticspecies]

I would crop it similar to the second photo, but move the frame to the right since the man is facing that direction, it makes sense to show that side of him more. The left side doesn't add anything to the photo.

[Airedale1]

Here's my take on it. I cropped as seen and cloned out the overhead lights and made the modern plastic water bottle in the woman's hand appear to be a regular drinking glass.

[tupe]

Well, you could do something like this:

[eastcoast909]

Thanks for the replies.

Airdale1, you know it just never occured to me to include the woman when I saw that she had the water bottle in her hand (I know, set up the shot before using the shutter :) :) ).

This has given me a chance to re-evaluate the whole feeling of the shot.

Thanks again all.

[Airedale1]

Airdale1, you know it just never occured to me to include the woman when I saw that she had the water bottle in her hand

Yes, I like the woman in the shot. It seems like she's encouraging him to take a break, perhaps offering the beverage as incentive to do so.