Portrait crop.. Why cut off the head?

[stevo8]

I know its a total newb question but I was just wondering why people tend to cut off the top of the head in portraits and when Im cropping my shots what exactly should I be looking at for the crop?

[jgrussell]

I know its a total newb question but I was just wondering why people tend to cut off the top of the head in portraits and when Im cropping my shots what exactly should I be looking at for the crop?A lot depends on your own personal preference. Some people cut the top of the head off because they like it; others because they think others like it; others because they botched the shot. Your crop should be designed to achieve a pleasing result -- what YOU like. If you don't like the "where's the top of her head" look, then don't do it.

[cdifoto]

Portrait crop.. Why cut off the head?

Because I want to. The great thing about photographic style is there are no laws.

[stevo8]

I do like the look in some cases, and obviously it will be subjective on the shot and person. I was just mainly wondering if there was any do's and dont's regarding it.

[cdifoto]

I was just mainly wondering if there was any do's and dont's regarding it.
Yep. Do it if you wanna. Don't do it if you don't wanna.

[iBeauty Photography]

It all depends on the composition that I'm looking for.. I do both and get great results either way

[stevo8]

Cool, thanks everyone. I just wanted to make sure I wasnt over looking something real simple.. Looks like this time around its pretty straight forward.

[JustMyLuck]

Some people are brain surgeon so they like that kind of stuff. Just joking. The eyes are the most important part of the face so as you have at least one eye in the picture than you are good. ( it's early in the morning for me )

[SYS]

What do you want the viewers to focus on seeing and imagining? That's the idea behind composition and cropping. Just go ahead and take two pictures of the same subject, one with full view, the other with much tighter composition. Print both out and closely look at both. They bring out different impressions, thoughts, and emotions from you the viewer.

[yogestee]

If you want to accentuate someone's eyes get in close..

[Teuobk]

Another situation in which you might want to cut off the top of a person's head is if he is balding and wishes to obscure that fact. After all, if you can't see where the hair is supposed to be, how would you know it isn't there? :)

[Roach711]

In a full face shot I'll often crop off the top of someone's head to get their eyes on a third.

[aram535]

One thing I should point out is that if you cut the head on all three sides than it just looks silly.

[ineedakamera]

i've heard this style is used a lot for actor/actress portfolios to draw more attention to the facial features. makes sense i guess.

[hrm5270]

I do it personally for artistic reasons, along with the idea of creating a more diverse range of photographs.