Shutter Sisters

Chopping Heads

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The above photo was an accident. I intended to capture Roxy’s whole body, but because I wasn’t looking through the viewfinder I chopped off the top of her head. But I actually really like it. I realize now that some of my favorite photographers go around taking headless pictures all the time and I am often really drawn to those photos. But it had never occurred to me to do it on purpose until I took this one. I think there’s a certain element of mysteriousness to a photo that is cropped below a person’s (or animal’s) eyes. What’s the first thing you typically look at in a portrait? The eyes, right? I know I do. So when that element is taken away, you are forced to take notice of other details.

Most “old school” photographers would tell you to never, ever cut off someone’s head in a photo. But I don’t really care what they say. And think I’m going start experimenting with this a little more. I did some poking around Flickr to find some good examples. Although, let me encourage you to never search Flickr with the words “chopping heads”. I am still scarred from that. However, after looking through the streams of some of my own contacts and the Shutter Sisters pool I quickly found what I was looking for.

Our own Tracey, chops heads all the time with great success! And I see lots of maternity photos taken from the neck down. It’s a great way to focus on those big beautiful bellies.

Here are some more of my favorite headless portraits:

Beebee Mod 

Emily (RWP) 

strawberrygoldie 

camerashymomma 

I could go on, but I’ll stop there for now because I want to hear from you. How many of you find yourself cropping heads out of photos and how often do you do it on purpose? Of course, I’d love to see examples!

Comments

  3. Oh my goodness, I only found TWO pics (out of my whole photostream) where a face was intentionally not showing. I’m gonna start looking for these kinds of unique shots! Cropped heads, never thought of it as a *good* thing before, but after having seen the pics you’ve shared, I’m changing my mind.
    Here are my two….

    This was one of the engagement pics I shot for my brother…
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/marycalissa/526464048

    And this one is already in Shutter Sisters pool, but remains one of my very favorites!
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/marycalissa/2157856811

  5. thanks for the props! i do alot of non-viewfinder photo shooting to get down below things or look up at angles i just cannot contort to. sometimes you get the pleasant accidental head chop like your sweet kitty (or the intentional like you mentioned to draw your eyes to a different focal point) i love how your photo draws me into the paws!

  7. This is one of my favorite techniques! It used to drive my Mother nuts when I was taking portraits of my siblings… she didn’t know that it was intentional. People still don’t always get it.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/smilinglaura/499871071/in/set-72157594455845702/

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/smilinglaura/1406147294/in/set-72157594455845702/

    sometimes, this is exactly what is needed to tell the story.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/smilinglaura/525082146/in/set-72157603849219080/

    wonderful photos everyone! hugs!

  14. This is a fun one! I am enjoying looking at all of these. And I love that kitty.

    Here is my chopped head. I like to shoot photos of my kids on the trampoline. The most interesting stuff happens when the subjects are flying around in front of me. This is my 5 year old flouncing and bouncing for the camera.

    http://tracienolesross.com/sketchbook/?p=123

  17. I actually love this technique — and looking back at my Project 365+1 blog, I see that I do it fairly regularly! I didn’t realize how many times the "head or other body part" chop shot turns out to be my favorite or most representative pic of the day.

    I first started noticing this way of focusing in when I met and worked a bit with a wedding photographer in NYC, and she used to take quite a few of these kinds of shot of the bride and groom — focus on the hands reaching for each other, the bouquet, the details of the dress, rings, and so forth. I think the details are so moving — and the shots are just beautiful. One moment — one detail at a time.

    Here’s one of my recent favorites. And yes, my own mother had a tiny little fit about it! I don’t think she approves! 🙂

    http://lynlepre.typepad.com/lifeinpajamas/2008/03/33108.html

  45. Wow, you guys! I didn’t realize there would be so many head croppers among us. I haven’t even gotten through all the links yet but there are some great examples here! Thanks for participating.

  46. I took this photo last fall. When I did it, though, I was more focused on the feet — the lack of heads on them was purely coincidental. (I still think it’s a fun photo.)

    http://flickr.com/photos/80585094@N00/1753119187/in/set-72157601807101011/

    And one of my favorite head choppers is 10 cent designer. She’s always cutting off the heads of her subjects. (But always ends up with absolutely amazing shots.)

    http://flickr.com/photos/theproletariatdesigner/2401806928/in/set-72157600885932418/

  52. I know I’m a little late to this post, but wanted to share my favorite chopped head pic.

    My son was three in this shot (http://photos1.blogger.com/photoInclude/blogger/2403/744/1600/PB190711.jpg) and this was the first time he was alone on a trampoline, and so didn’t have to worry about being bounced to his butt by the bigger kids. His joy is utterly complete. For the series of pictures, here is the blog post: http://littlebalddoctors.wordpress.com/2006/06/27/toad-and-a-trampoline/

  53. Crap, it looks like the first link didn’t work. The headless shot is the last one on the blog post. I kind of like it as part of the series, too. Gives more context.