Which Crop?

[[nCn]Preacher]

The background is a little busy in this shot and the "model" is not some cool rocker or hot babe, so cropping it was a problem.

Which one looks better?

 

[Lethal]

I like #1 better because it's more interesting showing him sitting on the stool with the amp and stuff. If the subject were a hot babe you might want to eliminate the distraction, but for a pudgy, balding guy it adds interest IMO.

 

[[nCn]Preacher]

Yeah, he's not sexy, but he plays a very sexy classical guitar and plays it pretty well, too!

 

[HorsePunchKid]

I like crop #1 better, though I'm not entirely sure why. I think his gaze toward something out-of-frame is just too distracting in #2, perhaps. If you go with something like #2, try putting him less dead-center in the frame, and definitely clone out that blue dongle on the bottom of the guitar.

 

[[TQ]]

I like crop #1 better.

Crop #2 would work great if you could apply the rule of thirds to the photograph.

As a general rule (in that you can always do whatever you want...be creative). When you take a photograph of someone looking in one direction, it is nice to leave some empty space in the direction that they are looking, and minimize the space in which they are not.

Humans have a natural tendency to make everything symmetrical, and although symmetry does have its place in photography...it needs to be done on the right photographs. This is not one of them.