Cropping and Re-sizing Images

Cropped Image Assignment

Focusing on a small part of a photo or image can remove and/or change important contextual information. The instructions for this assignment were to take a cropped portion of a larger image and observe differences that might appear in the cropped image, as well as noting the importance of composition in how the image was cropped (e.g. horizontal vs. vertical, what elements to keep and what to discard, etc.).

As source images for this assignment, I chose (digital) photographs of cows in pastures earlier this year (example, above right). I noticed that if I zoomed way in on some of these cows-in-pasture images, there were thistles and some interesting-looking weeds growing in front of the cow. And, if I zoomed further in, that it was hard to tell there was even an cow/animal even there. The animal just became an interesting abstract background. 

See images:
1.) two (different) highly cropped images of cows with thistles.
2.) I've also included a second image of a further edited/altered/vignetted image of a cow (with multiple thistles) that I created for a photography class in July. I like this one even better; it makes the original context even more obscure.

Going through this exercise made me realize how many wonderful images can be gleaned from one shot -- even a rather unremarkable shot to begin with.

Further edited image