On Ratios

PopeBuckfastXVI

Hi All,

Does anyone else give much thought to ratios in their photography? (aspect ratios, not lighting ratios by the way!).

I normally try to keep all my pictures consistently 3:2, even when cropping, occasionally I'll go for something like 16:9 if I want to create a movie/tv like feel or I'll go for a square crop if it suits some detail. I rarely square crop landscapes though, even though I love that ratio in MF pictures.

I find I like 3:2 in landscape orientation, but when it comes to portraits of people, particularly torso & face I find the breadth a little restrictive, does anyone else find that? I suppose I can see why 'standard' headshots are 10x8.

For panoramas I tend to stick with whole number ratios like 2:1 or 3:1.

I have a bronica etrs which makes 4:3 negatives and I'm actually growing to really like that ratio. I don't use it in portrait orientation because I only have a waste level finder, but even for a headshot I find 4:3 a nice aspect in landscape.

What are peoples thoughts on 3:2? Do people free crop for composition without considering the aspect?

Out of curiosity what's the aspect on bog standard 35mm SLRs? Is it the same as fullframe dSLRs?

Does anyone have any interesting aspect ratios which they use to evoke a particular feeling that they'd like to share?

I suppose I'd like to see an interesting conversation that doesn't involve the law, gear or purely technical aspects (pardon the pun) of photography.

I'm interested in the aesthetics here, not the technics.

For reference and to get the ball rolling, here's a 3:2 torso of mine:


You can see if I'd gone any further in on the face I'd start to lose the sides of the body in this aspect.

Now here's a 2:1 and a 3:1 panorama for comparison




And finally I don't think this would work as well in anything but a square crop

magicbastarder

one of the reasons i like shooting on the hasselblad is that it removes this issue; a case of less often being more.


the frame size on 35mm film is 36mm x 24mm, so 3:2.

i prefer 3:2 to 4:3. 4:3 seems like a bit of a compromise.

DaireQuinlan

I'd generally shoot given the constraints of whichever format I'm shooting with, I try never to crop afterwards, so either square or 3:2 (35mm or 6x9) .
The one exception is that sometimes while shooting I'll be considering getting something printed up (or printing it up myself) on 8x10 so I'll take that into account.

Ratio rarely crosses my mind. If it's pre-purchased portrait package that includes certain prints/sizes then I'll try to keep that in mind (usually 8x10). I like the 3:2/8x12 ratio, though, because it's what my camera sees and I can work with that.


I'd love to get my hands on the fella that decided 8x10 was a standard photo size!

Hugh_C

I shoot a lot of stuff 11x14" commercially, but I like square format and I also use (pretentiously ) the Golden Section.