Widescreen Crop Tutorial

[a1]

This a cropping method I use to give a screenshot more mood and realism. It can be done easily with a couple clicks of the mouse.

I use this when I have a shot that features an aircraft landing. The reason it is used is because it adds to the realism by simulating the viewpoint of a person standing on the tarmac of the airport taking a picture of an aircraft.

Example 1

As you can see in this picture a Boeing 747-400 has just landed at Boston Logan International Airport. The shot has nothing wrong with it but it could be better.

Look at it for a while and you can see that there is an excess amount of sky and tarmac showing. The sky and tarmac adds little to the screenshot.

The screenshot below is the exact same as the shot above except with the sky and tarmac being cropped out. The cropped image gives a better sense of realism and lets the audience focus on the aircraft itself.

Example 2

Showing off a little wing flex is always very nice as it adds to the realism.

Here is the uncropped image...

Here is the cropped one.

You can see the wings drooping down much more clear in the cropped shot. This is all about focus. Cropping the image lets to audience know what you are trying to show off.

Example 3

Everyone makes mistakes.

If you have a perfect shot but there are imperfections such as bad water quality or ground textures you can crop it out.

Here is the cropped version.

Dare I say focus again?

You can do many things with this.

If you play around with the custom Tower Views in the FS Recorder Module you can get very realistic angles and perspectives.


Give it a go and have fun.

[Sean_TK]

An extremely helpful and informative post for all!

Thanks a1!

[SubZer0]

very nice of you a1. thanks for posting this  :)

[jime59]

Very helpful  ;)  To me,some shots actually look better in widescreen,as you have proven.

Thanks for the info  :)

[Anxyous]

Very informative, not bad!

Though for interesting angles, I personally prefer Traffic Explorer.

A matter of taste I guess

[Harold]

Excellent tutorial Alex! Short and informative!

Indeed, cropping is a good way to get rid of unwanted things in your screenshots. Remember that you can not only crop horizontally but also vertically. If you have something 'disturbing' on the side of your image you can crop that out too! In most graphics editors, you define the height and width of your cropping tool; adjust it to 1024 wide and move it over your image. This way you can get some interesting shots that you might not have seen before!

I generally like cropped images and use cropping a lot myself. A cropped image can give a shot from a distance a really nice effect. Like this. But I also like images that have a lot of headroom in them, meaning that there is not a lot of tarmac in the shot but a lot of sky. Here is an example. It also depends on where you want the viewer to focus on; if you have nice grass then you crop out your skies and visa versa.

Or do something really extraordinary and focus on the aircraft

There are all sorts of creative things you can do with cropping but please make sure you have an interesting image to start with. Cropping is a 'tool', not a 'goal'.