Squaw Root

How to crop an image? I’ve heard several rules of thumb, “…use the golden ratio…”,” …square crop is best for Instagram…”,” …16:9 for film” etc. etc. I originally took this photo on a family hike up Shirley Canyon near Squaw Valley California, and the only camera I had was my iPhone. Therefore, it was first taken in 16:9…in bad light. I liked the color and texture so much that I told myself I would come back the next morning in good light. When I returned with my DSLR, I found out very quickly (in good light this time) that I was still having problems framing the image up to get rid of hot spot eye tractor beams due to the holes in the root. So, instead of zooming in with a telephoto and losing the interesting swirling lines of the root, I remembered that you can crop 1:1 on my DSLR. I changed this in the settings and the photo before you instantly came together. So, back to the original question. How do you determine where or why to crop and image? My advice would be to let the image tell you.

#landscape #squawvalley #tree #root #shirleycanyon #canyon #abstract