Ok. Back to composition this week. Once you've thought about what you want to capture (Think before you shoot) and you've picked where you're going to take your picture from (Perspective), one of the next things you can do is decide if you're going to take a Horizontal (landscape) or Vertical (portrait) format picture. (In other words, are you going to hold your camera sideways when taking the picture or not.)
Compositional use of different Formats
Changing the format really helps in your story telling with your pictures. There are many reasons to choose one over the other, and often they seem conflicting. But no matter how you look at it, exploring different formats will liven up your pictures and your photo album.
Filling the Frame: One of the reasons to change format is to help you fill the frame with your subject. If your subject is vertical, take a vertical shot. If your subject is horizontal, take a horizontal shot. Simple enough.
Cropping: You can change format in order to help you eliminate unsightly backgrounds or background noise that doesn't help tell your story.
Compositional use of different Formats
Changing the format really helps in your story telling with your pictures. There are many reasons to choose one over the other, and often they seem conflicting. But no matter how you look at it, exploring different formats will liven up your pictures and your photo album.
Filling the Frame: One of the reasons to change format is to help you fill the frame with your subject. If your subject is vertical, take a vertical shot. If your subject is horizontal, take a horizontal shot. Simple enough.
Cropping: You can change format in order to help you eliminate unsightly backgrounds or background noise that doesn't help tell your story.
Using the Format to emphasize your subject: Ok, lots of different reasons to use Horizontal vs. Vertical. I'll just list some below . . .
Horizontal (Landscape) Format
Calming Effect: The horizontal format is suppose to be more tranquil than the vertical format. Of course, this is subject to how you use it and what your subject is, but it is something to keep in mind. Something about our minds thinking the horizontal format is more stable shape and thus less tension.
Can also emphasize horizontal movement: When taking pictures of moving cars, kids on bikes and other horizontal motion, using a horizontal format helps to keep the story moving. Its shape helps the viewer move along with the horizontal movement of what is happening in the picture and gives the viewer's eye (and imagination) a place to go.
Entering or exiting the frame: When taking pictures of people, and you don't have them looking at the camera, they'll either be looking / facing into the picture or out of the picture. When they are looking into the picture, it leads the viewer to look into the picture as well, emphasizing something within the picture. When they are looking out of the picture, it draws the attention of the viewer out of the picture, creating tension and the question, what are they looking at? Both are effective! (This works equally well with any format, but I thought I'd slip this in here. <grin>)
Vertical (Portrait) Format
Add Tension: The vertical format is suppose to create more tension than the horizontal format. Something about it making our mind think the picture is going to fall over or something. And when taking pictures from the ground of tall things, the perspective makes tall objects slant inwards, which does make them look like they are falling, like these trees.
Emphasize Height: The vertical format can also emphasize the height / size of your subject. This, in combination with changing your perspective, can be really effective.
Horizontal (Landscape) Format
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| Horizontal Format goes really well with calm, tranquil scenes. (Click on image to view large.) |
Can also emphasize horizontal movement: When taking pictures of moving cars, kids on bikes and other horizontal motion, using a horizontal format helps to keep the story moving. Its shape helps the viewer move along with the horizontal movement of what is happening in the picture and gives the viewer's eye (and imagination) a place to go.
Entering or exiting the frame: When taking pictures of people, and you don't have them looking at the camera, they'll either be looking / facing into the picture or out of the picture. When they are looking into the picture, it leads the viewer to look into the picture as well, emphasizing something within the picture. When they are looking out of the picture, it draws the attention of the viewer out of the picture, creating tension and the question, what are they looking at? Both are effective! (This works equally well with any format, but I thought I'd slip this in here. <grin>)
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| Vertical Format can emphasize height and create tension. (Click on picture to view large) |
Add Tension: The vertical format is suppose to create more tension than the horizontal format. Something about it making our mind think the picture is going to fall over or something. And when taking pictures from the ground of tall things, the perspective makes tall objects slant inwards, which does make them look like they are falling, like these trees.
Emphasize Height: The vertical format can also emphasize the height / size of your subject. This, in combination with changing your perspective, can be really effective.
Something Different: Also, if you're used to taking most of your shots horizontal, a vertical shot will stand out in your photo album. It can be a fresh new look at the same subject.
Other types of Formats
But why stop there? Why not take a picture and crop it square, round or diagonal for that matter?
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| Why not square format? Old film cameras used to produce square pictures. In this age of digital cameras with their rectangle images seeing a square image can be a refreshing change. (Click on image to view large) |
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| Why not panorama (or extreme panorama)? Panoramic pictures lets you tell your story in a slightly different way. Something that can be really fun to explore. I'll probably write a post on panoramas and link it here. (Click on image to view larger) |
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| Why not diagonal (or circle or diamond for that matter)? Let your imagination go wild! (Click on image to view larger) |
How to do it! Read through the different reasons to choose Horizontal vs. Vertical below, and the next time you're out shooting, either stop before you pull the trigger and make a conscious decision on which format to use. Or try and shoot the same shot both horizontal and vertical (or some other format) and see what you like.
NOTE: Now-a-days it is so easy to share your pictures via. computer, digital picture frames or in picture shows on your television. But when you do this, you will quickly realize that vertical pictures don't display well on these digital devices. The solution: Whenever you take a vertical shot, try to sneak in a corresponding horizontal shot to use when you want to put together a digital slide show.
(C) 2011 -- Glen Fujino
(C) 2011 -- Glen Fujino
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