The top of the head or lack there of

[dan_ling]

Like a good boy i did a search and didn't come up with anything

definative.

 

So question: Why is it in so many pictures of people the very top of

their head is cut off? Is it...

 

a) including the top of the head would increase the space around the

face and rest of the subject there by detracting from composition.

 

b) the top of the head is obtrusive and ugly and there for left out

 

c) ?

 

all input is greatly appreciated.

[elliot_n]

a

[hclim]

Maybe it is the rule of thirds for the face. Then of course, for women in portraits, while cropping tight you want to show the breast too... :) Don't forget too if the face is centred, it looks like a passport photo, wouldn't you agree?

[scott_blair1]

I most often crop a head when making a photograph of a child and parent. The childs head is intact within the frame, but the parent's is cropped to be secondary. This actually emphasises the parent's expressive interaction with the child, especially a mother and newborn. Another necessary crop is a couple when one is quite taller than the other, but you still want a fairly tight framing. The taller is cropped to reduce dominance, and to reinforce the shorter, who is probably the more interesting aesthetically, anyway.

[richard_milner2]

People want to look at other people's faces and bodies, not the top of their heads.

 

This was proved by a BBC documentary a few years ago. They used eye-tracking technology to show where people's eyes look when meeting someone.

 

The eyes scan rapidly all over the body, concentrating on certain important areas such as the eyes, mouth, breast and so on. The top of the head is not important. Logically the same psychology would apply to portraits.

[william_hahn1]

Here's an example that had me wondering the same

question:

 

http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles1995/Articles1095/Skrebneski.html

[graphicjoe]

I almost always include all of the head. I feel that it can become a trite affectation to omit the top of the head. It�s a bit like doing full frame prints with a dark edge because that�s what the rest of the gang in the photography 101 class are doing.

 

If there is a graphic/esthetic reason for removing part of the head, great. But often it just looks like an omission or error. Perhaps the range finder is out of adjustment?

 

Cheers,

 

Joe Stephenson

[daryl]

I was looking through the gallery pages recently and I was struck by the framing in this folder. Most of the shots have the top of the model's head cropped and the compositions work very well. <A HREF="http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=309592">http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=309592</A>