Cropping for composition

Friday 12 December 2025, 20:02 by Nando Harmsen | 1,787 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Composition in a landscape can be tricky. You can only do your best to get it as good as possible in the camera. Fortunately, you can always crop afterwards to put the finishing touches to your composition.

Photographing a landscape isn't easy. You have to find a beautiful composition. Once you've found one, it's easy to overlook things. There's a good chance you still have too much in the frame.

The composition on the beach. It takes some searching, and you think you've found it. Then start taking photos.
You're somewhat tied to the aspect ratio of the sensor in your camera. It could be 3:2, or 4:3, or perhaps 5:4. But that isn't always the best choice. There's also the choice between a portrait and a landscape photo.

There was too much in the frame. That's why I chose a 5:4 ratio. This makes the composition quieter and allows me to position the lines better.
It's not a problem to have too much in the frame. As long as it isn't far too much. By cropping the photo during post-processing, you can remove anything that isn't important to your composition.

Cropping also gives you the opportunity to make the lines in the composition run even better. You saw them in the landscape and included them in the composition. But getting them into the frame in the ideal way can be difficult.

I decided to crop out even more and create a portrait composition. The emphasis had to be on the line of the rock. That's what I want to show in this photo.
On closer inspection, the curve in the photo turns out to be one of the most important elements in the image. Everything else on the left and right is of secondary importance. It can be removed to make the composition as clean as possible.

The strength of a good composition is simplicity. Call it the art of leaving things out. Keep it simple and crop to achieve this. These are the finishing touches to the composition.

This is my choice for this photo. Your choice may be different. Everyone has their own preferences. That's what makes your photo unique, just as my choice makes my photo unique.

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