What is in a shape?
In photography, the shape of an image tends to be forced on us by sensor shape or printing limits and is accepted by us as provided, even to the point of miss guided ideals espoused like “never crop” drawn from it.
My question is, why?
The shape you choose should be based on the way you see your subject and the way you want it to be seen, nothing else
For Japan this time, I chose to shoot 2:1 “cinematic”, occassionally 1:2 “wall hanging” shapes.
Shooting my images in RAW meant of course, all the images were 4:3 format, so to enforce the continuity of the process, I imported them with these shapes as pre-sets and shot with the excellent crop preview on the G9.
I have faith in my original compositions and intent to hold the course. I do see other shapes in some images, but it is interesting how few are equal or better with more. Even more interesting is the few times I am tempted to break the consistency is to use square format, the “other” true format.
Part of my thinking is linked to the desire to blend cinematic shot composing with stills composition, because they are linked and add to the quality of both.
The shape was easy to compose with, with the added benefit of cropping out unwanted foreground elements (often tourists heads) and refreshed my take on the well frequented locations we visited.
With the 2:3 ratio. 35mm film shape dominating the last half century, we have been pandering to that less than ideal shape along with older, squarer formats for printing, but ascetically, wide screen suits our two eyes better and square is the most equitable and versatile of formats for print.
Another small benefit was horizon alignment, an issue of mine. I was more aware of it, because basically, I had to set my horizontals firmly.
Still not perfect, because sometimes the subject isn't, but better than my usual effort.
Placement is also interesting. I felt keener to break or bend compostional rules a little, the "golden mean" meaning little.
What is in a shape?
What ever you need it to be, even if that is the abomination that is the vertical 16:9 “reel” format.