How should I crop this?

[Kris V]

And what version?
None of those pictures are really "true to nature", (3 is the closest) but then again, I love to experiment, sometimes with detrimental results, sometimes very surprising!
The trees on either side bother me, but the crops I tried didn't cut it either.

[Polar01]

I like the second one the best for the drama that the colours create. I do not think that a crop will work, as two of the corners are dark what if you were to darken down the lower corners? As the ULHC is very large, balance it out by darkening the LRHC more, than the LLHC so the top and bottom are similar but in opposite corners. Hope that, makes sense.

Allan

[Geoff F]

For me, either the left side tree has to go, in each photo, or alternatively, crop the right side so the remaining piece of tree is roughly the same height as the left side.

And to save cropping away too much from the top I would try altering the width/height ratio to something around 5 x 4 ratio.

[William W]

And what version?
None of those pictures are really "true to nature", (3 is the closest) but then again, I love to experiment, sometimes with detrimental results, sometimes very surprising!
The trees on either side bother me, but the crops I tried didn't cut it either.

Three, artistically, is the most boring.

The first is: "the cold storm comes" - the second is: "the hot storm comes."

***

How should I crop this?

As a triptych.
From the original Full Frame aspect ratio (8:12), the three aspect ratios are – 8:3, 8:6, 8:3.




WW

[Kris V]

Three, artistically, is the most boring.

The first is: "the cold storm comes" - the second is: "the hot storm comes."

***



As a triptych.
From the original Full Frame aspect ratio (8:12), the three aspect ratios are – 8:3, 8:6, 8:3.




WW

Bingo! You got it sooooo nailed! Thanks for the suggestion!

Why didn't I think of that! - it's a perfect solution.
And you're right of course about 3 - That was the OOC version with some basic LR adjustments.
I love to try for dramatic, but I do have a tendency of going overboard.

[William W]

Why didn't I think of that!

There could be several reasons, but my best guess is that you were thinking linearly (just about "how do I crop this?") and not asking: "How best can I display this image?"

In other words you made a subconscious decision "to crop" . . .



Interestingly the etymology of the word "decide":
- Latin Suffix "cidium" = "to kill"
Or maybe - the Latin decidere - being de (off) + caedere (to cut), i.e. literally "to cut off".

Once asking the quetsion "how do I crop this", thus making the decision 'to crop' - the mind is not open to any other choices.

I did not read nor answer the question, as you wrote it.

I ignored your question and made my own question to which I provided a solution which I considered viable and for your consideration.

WW