When editiing a photo,what is contrast? I never did understand that?

Question

Also if you could tell me what is cropping? Cutting off edges is all I can think of, but why would you do that?

Answer 1

Contrast is pretty simple - it's the difference between the lighter and darker portions of a picture. A picture with no contrast is all one color, and a picture with 100% contrast means that every part of the photo is either white or black. Increasing the contrast of a picture makes it easier to pick out details in the picture, but can change the overall feel of the picture to seem more harsh.

Cropping really is just cutting off the edges of the picture. Normally that's done to remove distracting objects from the edges of the photo, or to change where the subject of the photo appears,

Answer 2

Contrast, to a 2-year-old, basically means a difference in color tone. Bright vs. dark, white vs. black, red vs. green, etc. You want your photo to have contrast, not just a muddled blend of monochrome color and light. More contrast makes a photo more eye-catching, interesting photo.

Cropping is just what you said...trimming the edges of a photo. Cropping is used to help a photo's overall composition.  

Answer 3

Cutting off the wasted edges of an image is called cropping

Contrast is the ratio of light from shadow to highlights in f/stops.

A normal contrast image would have what is referred to as a 4:1 contrast ratio.  A high contrast would be something like a 6:1 contrast ratio or more and if you were to shoot on a foggy day you would have a 1:1 contrast ratio ... no shadows

Answer 4

contrast- the tonal value between dark and light areas

cropping- omitting parts of an image to create better composition