Accept or alter aspect ratio?

[Strmbrg]

What is your view of this?
For me, nearly never the cameras given aspect ratio suits the motif or what I want to achieve.
When taking photos for slides, the only possibility was to choose between horizontal or vertical, zooming/change lens or use my feet. (Of course strips of electrical tape on the slide is an option to alter the ratio, but I did never use that...)

Besides of getting rid of eye-disturbing things in the picture*), the aspect ratio is to me very important.

*) Disturbing things can be small, distracting areas of too bright spots, something in a corner or at the edge that disturbes or any other thing that i want to get rid of with the purpose of "cleaning up" the final image, so it becomes simple to look at.

 

[SeizedMedia]

As someone who likes to shoot panos, I alter my aspect ratio all the time. The camera is just a tool to help me capture what I want to capture. If I want a pano, I make it a pano in post or if I like a 4x5 crop more than the native aspect ratio then I crop it.

 

[Tropicalmemories]

Same for me - I crop to suit the subject and 'unlock' the aspect ratio.

But if I want to print and frame a photo - then I choose a standard format, and also if planning to post on instagram I'll keep it square or close to square.

 

[RVT1K]

I'll crop my shots to fit what I will be doing with them. If I'm going to make prints for an album, then I'll crop the shot to 5x7. If the shot is going to be viewed on my computer screen, I'll do a 16x9 crop to make it fit best.

 

[Derrel]

are used to adhere to the idea of no cropping,but over the last 20 years or so, I have found myself much more willing to crop.

 

[Designer]

I agree; the aspect ratio is important, and often affects the impression viewers have of the photograph. I edit nearly all of my photographs, beginning with straighten and crop, and in doing so, I consider the aspect ratio, although not slavishly.

 

[Soocom1]

Shooting square format lately (I use to shoot 6x6) I have a certain fondness of square format.
Format aspect ratio also involves many other aspects as well that i wont explore here, but there are many advantages to all.
Also disadvantages.

Shoot to what looks good and helps make the photo.

 

[ebyelyakov]

When I crop, the only criteria I consider is that will be the final crop if I ever needed to print it... Therefore. 4x5 (my favourite), 2x3, 1x1 and veeerrrryyy rarely 4x3

 

[johngpt]

What is your view of this?
For me, nearly never the cameras given aspect ratio suits the motif or what I want to achieve.
When taking photos for slides, the only possibility was to choose between horizontal or vertical, zooming/change lens or use my feet. (Of course strips of electrical tape on the slide is an option to alter the ratio, but I did never use that...)

Besides of getting rid of eye-disturbing things in the picture*), the aspect ratio is to me very important.

*) Disturbing things can be small, distracting areas of too bright spots, something in a corner or at the edge that disturbes or any other thing that i want to get rid of with the purpose of "cleaning up" the final image, so it becomes simple to look at.

My Fujis native aspect ratio is 3:2 which I often dislike in landscapes, whether shot in landscape or portrait orientation, so commonly I'll use Lightroom to switch it to 4:3 which gets rid of a bit from either end and results in a more broad aspect.

I used to shoot a lot with the Hipstamatic app on the iPhone, which would shoot with a square format. More recent iterations of Hipstamatic allow one to shoot with the phone's native camera and then import that image where one can choose to crop it square or leave it at the phone's native 4:3. I find if I'm thinking phone, I tend to visualize in square format with the intent to later crop to that.

I must confess that shooting digitally has gotten me spoiled. I'll often frame up a shot wider than what I would have with film knowing I'll be cropping during editing.

And I'm shameless about cloning things in and out having come from a painting background where I'd choose what was in or not in my compositions.

.

 

[AlanKlein]

Since I shoot travel pictures for display as a video slide, I set my camera to 16:9 to match the 16:9 ratio of my UHDTV and monitors. This lets me frame in camera for the final aspect ratio. It also matches 16:9 video clips that I shoot with the same camera and include in the slide show .

 

[petrochemist]

My father did use tape on slides, I've certainly found a few among his back catalog when scanning them.

As an advertising art director he frequently cropped images to meet the requirements of the output format, be it TV, roadside multi-sheet posters, travel brochures or various format magazine/newspaper ads.

I have a lot more freedom is my output formats. I can but mounts in multiple sizes or even cut my own when printing & if displaying digitally I can make the format suits without any repercussions. I have found some of my Panoramic prints impractical to mount - 10" high by 12' long just doesn't work for a one day exhibition!

 

[johngpt]

My father did use tape on slides, I've certainly found a few among his back catalog when scanning them.

As an advertising art director he frequently cropped images to meet the requirements of the output format, be it TV, roadside multi-sheet posters, travel brochures or various format magazine/newspaper ads.

I have a lot more freedom is my output formats. I can but mounts in multiple sizes or even cut my own when printing & if displaying digitally I can make the format suits without any repercussions. I have found some of my Panoramic prints impractical to mount - 10" high by 12' long just doesn't work for a one day exhibition!

Thank you for mentioning this! I had forgotten my dad would do that also, masking slides to crop. And he would mask with velum or use X-Acto knife to crop printed images as part of his work as an advertising artist, often for art directors.