Hey! ‘Sup, gang?
So, any of you who
follow me on Facebook or Google+ know that I’ve been experimenting with a square
format for my photography. Tonight I’m actually going to explain my thinking
and ask your thoughts.
My Thinking
When I compose my
photos in standard landscape view I tend to have one primary subject then one
or two foreground or background elements that ‘engage’ the subject in some way.
Nice composition, good image, well done Bobby-Boy!
Then I get home and
I plug my images into Lightroom. Invariably there is a problem; there is always
all this extraneous shite in the frame that, to my eye, detracts from the
overall image. And I couldn’t figure out how the hell to get rid of it! No
matter what I did with the crop tool in Lightroom or content-aware or cloning
in Photoshop, it just wouldn’t go away.
The problem I had
was this – I had gotten it into my head somehow that I had to preserve the
aspect ratio of the image. For some reason that was right and proper, only that
aspect ratio was photography. Even when I learned of the wonderful worlds or
medium and large format photography, and the fact that they had different
aspect ratios, I can remember thinking to myself, “Wow, it would be cool to
shoot in those aspect ratios, but I can’t afford those kinds of cameras.”
What?!
Seriously?!
And now for the
worst part (be gentle with me, I’m only a little kid) I was thinking that on
the day of my birth this year, when I turned 43! I know, I know, but hear me out! This might seem digressive,
but we do get to the point kinda quick...
You see, I was
discussing my Abandoned Spaces
project idea with my father and he suggested that when I exhibit I should go
with big, big prints. That got my imagination running and I started thinking, “What
about an image big enough to make the viewer think they are in the scene?” As it turns out, that
size image costs an arm and a leg, which means I would only be able to do two
prints not the twelve I want to do. And two prints do not an exhibition make. And I wouldn’t be doing landscape
photography anymore because I wouldn’t have any arms or legs! So big prints
were out, but what else could I do to make an impression? Could I do square
prints? Yeah, I don’t have a medium or large format camera but could I, dare I go square? 1:1 ratio on an SLR? REBEL!!!!
Okay, so I didn’t go
that far, but it did require a bit of
re-ordering of my photographic ideas. I started experimenting and, if you have
seen my Facebook or Google+ posts, you will have seen some of my efforts.
For this blog post,
though, I thought I might take it a step further. Below I have inserted two
copies each of four images I made at Cam River last night. For each pair the
first image is the standard landscape, the second is the 1:1 crop:
I like the fact that
the square crop gives a more focussed view of the scene. There is nothing for
the audience to view but that which is the focus of the image. That’s the way I’m
looking at it, but I would like to know...
Your Thoughts
Am I losing
something by focussing in on my subject?
Am I losing context?
Am I actually
creating focus, or am I imagining it?
What have I not
thought of?
I’m hoping some of
you reading this are experienced photographers, or have a view at the very
least. Share with me and the other reader your insights. If I am going wrong,
tell me before I drop a couple of grand on prints, ‘cos’ no one needs a heart
attack! ;-)
Anyway, thanks for
stopping by, gang, I hope you enjoyed the read!
Don’t forget my
portfolio is at:
And my other stuff
is on:
And I am @BobCartPhoto on Twitter
Later!
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