| >> | No. 2393 
>>2392
 It's very much intentional. Things like composition, staging, framing, cropping are often very deliberate choices for me, to generate interest, incite an emotion, etc, etc.
 
 My headcanon dictates that Soldier's helmet is something not just protecting what little brain he has, but serving as a wall to distance himself from other people. When he doesn't wear his helmet, I see him as being emotionally exposed, going with the whole "eyes are the gateway into the soul" idea.
 
 Anyway, so in that scene, Soldier was lacking his helmet, but he was retreating back into himself after getting figuratively cut deep by Engineer's actions. To get this idea across visually, I cropped the image off right where the helmet would have covered his eyes anyway. So the edge of the frame serves to signify Soldier shutting himself off.
 
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