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Cutting off heads ...

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Ken Phillips

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It appears to have been the style the last few years to clip off part of the subject's head in magazine and catalog fashion shots, and even in studio portraits. My father would NEVER let me do that, and to this day it disturbs me. (I'll be 50 in a few months; perhaps I'm just old!)

I mention this because the new Eddie Bauer catalog came in the mail ... and virtually every shot (except for ones featuring headgear!) has a cropped head! (I would have counted them, but I want to keep the degree of my neuroses a secrets!)
Am I too old fashioned?
Ken
--



http://www.ahomls.com/photo.htm
Voted Best of the City 2004 by Cincinnati Magazine

I don't believe in fate, but I do believe in f/8! And while your at it, don't be afraid to vote Libertarian, for REAL freedom!
 
I guess this is probably done more in fashion shots so that it detracts attention away from the face and more towards the clothes. As far as portraits go, I think a slightly cut off head looks good in a close up shot to bring more attention to the eyes and facial features

Nathan Peffer
--
My Gallery: http://iciclelanding.com/npeffer

 
Ken Phillips said:
I mention this because the new Eddie Bauer catalog came in the mail
... and virtually every shot (except for ones featuring headgear!)
has a cropped head!
Click to expand...
I saw ONE that didn't.

I guess what bothers me is just where the crops are occuring. It's like the top half of the heads are amputated. Usually you will crop up to a certain percantage, but these are like 1/2 chopped off. It would be like cropping at the knees.

This is another classic example of a Creative Director that thinks that he (usually a he and almost always dressed in black) has stumbled upon some really edgy new look that he's fixated on.

I don't mind edgy and creative, but I do mind when it breaks rules that exist for good reasons. Cropped heads are ok, but PLEASE do them right.
 
I'm sure it's done cause they wanted a almost head on shot, showing the product as large as possible. I agree with you, it is quite annoying, but folks who get the cataloge aren't analyzing the photography like we do - they just want cloths :-)

wll
 
...just not following the fad.

Cropping heads works in fashion ads and editorial work, as do most photographic fads. Those markets thrive on the NEW and the DARING and the EDGEY.

I do portraits, however, and I try to use imagery idioms that will still be acceptable and enjoyable 100 years from now.

--
RDKirk
'TANSTAAFL: The only unbreakable rule in photography.'
 
It does have it's place, but to do every photo like that gives it a shelf life of about a day.

--
Jim
 
Re> It's like the top half of the heads are amputated.

Uh?

I've got the catalgo beside me.

There's half a dozen shot in the whole catalog where you can't see some hair above the forehead, and on these, there's hair ont he side of the face, the eyes and eybrows are in the shots, and on one photo, the guy's got a beard to make up for the cropped off hair.

BAK
 
Ken, what kind of photographer was your father?

I can see formal portrait photographers setting a general rule like not head-chopping.

But for editorial photographers, a rule like this woulldn't work very well.

I see a lot of photos in newspapers identifying columnists and other contributors that are cropped tight, but formal appointment announcement pictures are suually full head.

Last night I sat in a cafe and looked through the entire Eddie Bauer catalog, (pretty quickly through the women's papges) and was not in the lest disturbed by the cropping. But I'm not a formal pictures-over-the-fireplace portrait photographer.

I did notice the model selection, I did notice the informality of some of the shots (which I liked; e.g. page 27 laughter), I did notice the locations and how they were used well...

I also noticed the little stop watch and think I'll buy one of these. Plus, there was a closeup of the stop watch to make it easierto see.

90 percent of the time I'm either wearing Eddie Bauer or Costco, so I pay some attention to the catalog. I'm going back to the cafe now, in EB jeans and two EB jackets, with Costco shoes, socks, lingerie, and it is pretty much an accident I'm wearing a shirt from somewhere else.

And finally -- somewhere the photographer may have the exact same view as you and your dad, and be busy sticking voodoo pins in the art director.

All in all, I thought it was a good catalog and it used up half an hour of my time.

BAK
 
I'm younger, so manybe it's generational. Earlier on learning photography, I was too influenced by the "don't chip it off" mentality.

Now I'm over that. I chop the top all the time. Here's why... I get to show more of what really matters, the eyes and face. I'm a fan of the extreme close up, maybe its a phase I'll get bored with, maybe not. Once I shed the rules to avoid chopping extranious parts, I can say I like the pictures much better. There is so much above the eyes that doesn't matter. Why waste good print realestate on it?

That said, for a formal portait, I probably won't lop off the top. Unless I'm asked or the subject's face absolutely demands the whole frame.
 
... during WWII and for some years after, in Europe. Studio portraits after the war, as well. Then he made commercial and industrial stuff, both photographic and motion picture. Lots of people shots ("big shots"), all with complete heads.
Ken

--



http://www.ahomls.com/photo.htm
Voted Best of the City 2004 by Cincinnati Magazine

I don't believe in fate, but I do believe in f/8! And while your at it, don't be afraid to vote Libertarian, for REAL freedom!
 
There are two different ways it is commonly used. Both are shown on the EB site for example.

Method 1 involves a crop for stylistic effect as shown here.



This usually involves a small crop into the head.

That is completely different then method 2, which is done often in print ads for fashion. Shown here.



This method crops out the eyes. The reason being that the eyes of a subject are one of the highest points of interest, and pulls the viewers attention away from the clothing. Crop out the eyes, and the viewers eye will linger on the clothing longer.

--

How come no one ever looks at a Picasso and says 'Wow, he must have used a really great brush', but when they look at a great photo they say 'Wow, you must have used a really great camera'

http://tbdpbp.blogspot.com/
 
I remember the JCrew catalogs from fifteen years ago did this frequently. The clothes were the focus of the image and the models were secondary. I don't care for it, but it's better than turning the camera at an angle.
--
http://web.mac.com/tcphoto1
 
I'm relatively young (40) so I don't know if age has anything to do with it. I cut off heads a lot with my portraits, but I shoot photojournalist style and not posed, so maybe that makes it okay?

Here are a few. Opinions and tastes vary, but I don't mind being a chopper. I'm only a part-time pro, so take this with a grain of salt...







--
Florindo
http://www.bellacosaphotography.com
 
Most official army photographers, once we got past the French ones at the time of the French Revolution, were generally against cutting off heads.

I've watched what seems to me to be a big evolution of European photogaphy.

Forty years ago, it was very conservative compared to North American work.

It was easy to look at an international directory, and spot the European work.

Lots of 120 work with flood lights. Lots of 4x5 work.

And then change started in Europe (broad, general terms), Twen changed things editorially, British newspapers got very creative, the David Bailey's of Europe became popular, and Europe bacame more creative and did more breakthrough work than North America. Now, when I see something highly innovative, I think it might be European, or perhaps North America catching up.

Asia? I haven't really paid much attention.

BAK
 
I can't find that second picture in the catalog.

BAK
 
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