To Cut or Not to Cut…

To Cut or Not to Cut…

Posted on 17. Mar, 2007 by scrapbook blogger in Everything Else

Many scrappers are afraid to cut their pictures. I know one Creative Memories consultant who said, “We just don’t believe in that anymore.” Um, then why does CM sell their Cutting System for cropping pictures???

Here’s my thoughts. Cut when you need to be able to focus on a subject of the picture. Don’t let a messy background take away from who the picture is really about. On the other hand, don’t cut out objects or people who are rarely in your photos. For instance, I have pictures of my daughter jumping rope in the driveway. In the background is our old car. While I think it is distracting and not so pretty…I also realize how much I like to look at old pictures and see all the neat items in the background of that time period. It helps to date the pictures and to really get a glimpse into daily life back then. While I may not like our old car now, my grandchildren may think it is neat and old fashioned in 30 years. Imagine my old Honda Accord seeming neat! :)

I also want to point out that it is good to cut out the un-pretty from the picture. One of my wedding pictures has my uncle tipping a brewski way up and slouching…and this is all seen from behind. Doesn’t really add to the wedding moment me and my husband posing in our first moments of married life. You want to yell, “MOVE…get out of the picture!” So, I crop!

Some people think it is just plain sinful to cut. I think it is sinful to let someone’s fat roll show when you could crop an inch off of the bottom and let everyone focus on her kind face. Yes, I have a picture like that of someone….and yes, I cropped!

6 Responses to “To Cut or Not to Cut…”

  1. jeannie

    02. Jul, 2007

    Just read your post – few months late. Just wanted you to know that as a CM consultant the view that the above mentioned consultant has about cropping photos is not true at all, in fact, I have never heard of that before. So, even if one person has that view, it is not the view of the company Creative Memories.
    Jeannie, Creative Memories Consultant – by the way, I crop :-)

  2. Lori

    13. Dec, 2007

    I crop. I think scrapbooking is art and in art anything goes. So crop away!

  3. Vicki

    10. Jan, 2008

    Sometimes I think it’s necessary to crop a picture, when the background distracts from what you are trying to feature. It can also allow you to get more pictures on a page. Some page layouts wouldn’t be possible without cropping. I did a page of tiles and there was a pictures in random squares. They wouldn’t have fit otherwise. There are so may great cutting systems, like Creative Memories, and that adds so much to the design of your page.

  4. Dee

    29. Apr, 2008

    Well, being creative is all about what you think looks good. So, whether anyone says what not to do or what to do, the best answer is “what do you want to do?” It’s your creation, you have do do whatever you think is best. (I’d crop anything if it needed it)

  5. Kristen

    04. Mar, 2009

    It’s called “cellucropping!” I’m also guilty of pasting people’s heads into group shots when that person was the photographer :0

  6. Millie

    03. Feb, 2010

    I crop, it is only paper! I do have precious photos photo copied before I crop but I use whatever I need to make teh statement I am going for!

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