Cropping to the absolute top of every image would be a bad idea... I tried it and you end up with a way higher % of blank thumbnails (in grid and banner modes). When you display a portrait image in a semi-extreme landscape frame (like our banners), no matter what you do, you are always going to risk missing the "content" (face, etc) of the image. I believe my latest iteration is the best we can do, on average.
Cropping to the absolute top of every image would be a bad idea... I tried it and you end up with a way higher % of blank thumbnails (in grid and banner modes). When you display a portrait image in a semi-extreme landscape frame (like our banners), no matter what you do, you are always going to risk missing the "content" (face, etc) of the image. I believe my latest iteration is the best we can do, on average.