From the course: Learning Graphic Design: Cropping Photographs

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Cropping to a shape

Cropping to a shape

From the course: Learning Graphic Design: Cropping Photographs

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Cropping to a shape

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- Sometimes, you'll have a funny shape to crop to. The most common is a circle, like a disc label, or a triangle, like a page corner. And they usually include words. The key to cropping to a shape, as we've already seen, is to not try to fit the whole object in, but rather just use that descriptive slice. This works for almost anything. Our wristwatch, for example, the watch, the fingers, the cuff, and the sleeve, are the descriptive elements. The problem is that it's already cropped pretty tightly. So the words are going to help us. For example, cropping into a circle, leaves us with empty space on top. This is a perfect place to put the brand name. Awkward shapes, like triangles and parallelograms, find the descriptive slice, but here you'll have to be inventive with the placement of words and logo. Some on the top, some on the bottom, some in the corner. In this case, we reduce the name to a single letter O, then spell the full name in small print at the bottom. But in every case…

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