My turn again this week and I thought it would be fun to see how images can change if you crop them. I thought 3 ways would be interesting to see how the story of the image could change if you do this.
I thought of this idea when recently I was posting a photo, but wanted to just put part of the original image in the header, so I cropped it. Then I realised the image looked quite different. I’ve often found when I have done it in the past that people have believed it is a different image.
That got me thinking, what if we pick an image and crop it 3 ways to see how the image changes, or doesn’t. I come from the old school where I was taught to crop in camera, meaning take the photo how you want it because with film you didn’t always get a chance to crop it. So cropping is not a process I do a lot.
I think this is a challenge we can do on the computer or even on our phones. There are lots of ways to crop your photos. I didn’t want to give a theme that would be too hard for people to do.
Let’s take a look at mine. I have done 3 different images to see how each would come up.
The first one is the Wanaka tree in New Zealand, here is the original.
I decided to try different orientations and putting the tree in different places to see how it would work out.
I don’t know if it really makes it that much different. Though, out of the three I like the square one best.
Then I wondered about a photo of the city, or Docklands in this case. A long exposure over the water. Here is the original.
This is the first time I have put this into monochrome.
Then I did similar things and I tried to play around with cropping more of the water, or almost none of it.
Not sure about this one. I don’t even know if I have a favourite.
The last image is the Tree on a Rock from Binalong Bay in Tasmania. Again, here is the original.
I thought instead of putting the tree in all of them, I would play with that more, but also see if I could change the look so you can’t tell the image was taken on a beach.
I like the second one in this set.
I guess the question is, was it successful? I don’t know. I see the same image in all of them, but perhaps that is because I know the images so well. Maybe you can tell me.
Thanks for letting me be your host this week. The next theme is in 2 weeks and your host will be Elke from pictures imperfect blog.
Participating in Monochrome Madness
If you would like to participate in this challenge please post photos on your blog and use the tag Monochrome-Madness, then we can all use the reader to see what you post.
You can also leave a pingback, do they still call them that? Basically, you put a link to the host’s monochrome madness post in your post and it leaves a link in the comment section.
Don’t forget to check out the Monochrome Madness page. On this page, the next theme is announced and there is also all the information for participating. Please go and check it out. Click on the Monochrome Madness heading in the menu.
hello leanne,
a wonderful theme and 3 interesting pictures of their own that i like very much.
here is my entry for this week, https://wp.me/pfnz9O-F1 for the challenge.
many greetings robert
Hey Robert, good to hear you liked the theme. Thank you.
Thanks Leanne
You’re welcome.
Just the one from me, as I spent far too long deciding which photo to use, but great challenge.
https://travelswithali.com/2025/03/22/three-for-one-monochrome-madness/
That’s perfectly fine Alison, I think you chose really well.
This is such an interesting exercise! I agree with you about the square tree image but I prefer the third crop in your Tasmania set and don’t have a favourite among the city ones
Here are three photos from me, each with the original and three crops: https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/gallery-to-crop-or-not-to-crop/
Glad you liked it Sarah. I was hoping it would be fun. They are all good picks, thank you Sarah. I have seen yours, but haven’t commented yet.
Oh, I like all of them!!
Wonderful Esther, thank you.
𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 
♡☆𓂀⤖
⬻𓂀☆♡
Thank you Graham.
The reflective buildings are great shots and crops!
Thank you Alison.
Wow! What a wonderful collection of images. I have also experienced cropping an image to a narrow horizontal for use in a header, but you’ve gone far beyond this. These are all great. The Three Crops post is a great idea.
Thank you so much Joanne. It was an interesting challenge and I like the different results. Glad you liked it Joanne.
Indeed an interesting idea. I’m loving the results
That’s great to hear, thank you.
Wow, this is amazing! I can’t wait to see more of these unique perspectives. From a psychological standpoint, I’ve noticed that different perspectives can evoke a wide range of emotions. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Thank you, and you are right different crops shows different things.
Oh wow Leanne. These are fantastic. Your night scenes of Melbourne are always the best. I’ll never tire of seeing that tree either.
I couldn’t make up my mind and didn’t want to copy scenes so I went out of this world to find something
https://bushboy.blog/2025/03/19/a-full-moon-differently/
Thank you Brian. I have to tell it isn’t a night shot, it was taken in the middle of the day. I loved what you did.
Well, here is my effort, not so much cropped as chopped into three! https://margaret21.com/2025/03/19/three-no-four-vikings-i-met-last-month/
It is a great effort Margaret.
You’re welcome Margaret.
Leanne, this is lots of fun. It works well. Here’s my entry:
https://throughbrazilianeyes.com/one-scene-three-views/
Glad you enjoyed it Egidio, I thought it would be an interesting challenge to do.
Awesome photo ^^;
Thank you Yolanda.
Welcome:)
No! It’s OK! I’ve cracked it – one photo, three sets of cropping arriving in an in-box near you first thing tomorrow morning, UK GMT time
That is fantastic to hear Margaret, I can’t wait to see what you do.
A bit of a cheat really, I think …
Not at all, you did what you were meant to do.
With the tree – definitely the square one. With the second one, I like the original best. But any old way: wonderful, evocative images.
Thank you Elke, good to hear. I think I like the originals most, I think that is what I first intended, but I do like that square one too. It was fun.
It’s a clever challenge, and your photos respond well to the process. I’m afraid I don’t think I’m likely to join in. I can’t seem to find any photos that would crop well, let alone three times. And you know me and ‘fiddling with photos’….
I’m not going to say much to this Margaret, because I can see your other comment and you have been playing. Glad to hear you think it is clever, I thought it would be fun.
I think the first set has the most striking difference.
But of course, they are all beautiful.
Thank you Dawn, it is an interesting process.
of the original tree one, I like the bottom one the best, the square one
Thank you Beth, the square crop is interesting.
I like this exercise, Leanne. I like cropping it first and then saying, “OK, put all the pieces together and this is what you have.” Kind of like a picture puzzle, and very interesting results, too!
That’s great to hear Lois, I thought it could be interesting. I don’t tend to crop at all, unless I couldn’t get close enough to something. I like the way you do it. Thank you Lois.
So much fun.
It is, thank you.
Cool and exciting idea!
Thank you Egidio, I thought it might be fun.
In the first set I like the square one the best. In the second set I like the original. In the third set I’m undecided.
That all sounds great Randy, I wasn’t sure about the square one. I think sometimes it can be hard to tell when you are close to the images. Thank you Randy.
First, great images uncropped and cropped. However, I do prefer your originals to the cropped images.
Thank you Anne, it was an interesting process, but I think it goes without saying, maybe, that I prefer the uncropped too, otherwise I would have cropped them originally. lol
Great post and photos. I enjoyed reading this. Thanks!
That’s great to hear, thank you.