A photograph defines both what is visible and what remains outside it. In images attributed to Cory Christensen, inspect the edges before concentrating on the centre. Notice shapes that enter partway, lines that continue beyond the frame and details that almost touch a boundary. These elements can make the picture feel contained or suggest a wider space beyond it.
Choose one edge and describe how it changes your reading of the main subject. Then compare an image whose subject is fully enclosed. Neither arrangement is automatically better; the question is what relationship it creates. This exercise makes crop discussions more concrete and avoids reducing composition to rules that may not explain the photograph you are actually viewing.