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You probably figure that you orient your camera according to the subject matter - it if it composes better as a vertical, well that's the way you orient it - yeah, right!
Go through your images from the last month and count how many vertical and horizontal - want to bet that most are one way or the other and no where near 50% and likely you are a horizontal kind of person.
Arguably we live in a HORIZONtal world so that isn't too surprising, especially for snap shots. Also, only a limited number of professional level cameras are set up for vertical orientation and even then viewfinder information and lcd information don't match the orientation so in general cameras are a lot easier to orient horizontally.
Unless you use an L bracket (I do and find it invaluable), then leaning your camera way over to the side to orient vertically is awkward at best and unstable much of the time.
Still, when you think of all the full page magazine covers that are vertical you might just be a little bit curious about your own percentages - are you a horizontal kind of person or do you swing the other way?
Perhaps you should be asking yourself - 'am I picking my format out of habit, convenience or tradition?' and 'Is this an opportunity to shake things up a little and use the other format more often?'
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6 comments:
I think there is something else that drives people towards a horizontal orientation--eyes are 1 up and two across, this leads our field of vision with a horizontal aspect ratio.
I especially notice this because I'm mono-occular using my right eye for periferal vision only. I also end up taking about 85% or more of my pictures in vertical orientation.
Just for the record, out of my last 200 images, 40% were vertical. It just depends on the subject for me, some just work better as a vertical.
When a friend of mine, who's new to photography, saw one of my vertically oriented photos, he said, "I didn't know you could do that!" All of his pictures are horizontal.
I was thinking about this just the other day. The majority (70 to 80%) of my images are vertical, and I've always wondered why 35 mm cameras aren't vertically oriented by default!
Mike
If God had wanted us to shoot vertical, he would have placed one eye above the other.
A full 90% of my images are vertical. It's just the way that I see the world. I like tall images and large amounts for negative space, from time to time. It's rare, about 10% of the time, that I will shoot horizontally.
I love Chuck's comment! :-) I'm glad that my eyes, though, are not placed vertically.
I feel no attachment to the aspect ratio of my camera. I often take photos with the intent of cropping to an orientation and aspect ratio (and composition) of my choice. I lose pixels but gain a greater sense of creative control.
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