by Rolando Gomez
return to our main tips page
We're born waking up to the sunrise each morning and when the day ends we often see the sunset peering out over the horizon--something we've grown accustomed to all our lives. Whether it's taking in a movie on our “big screen” in our more horizontal than vertical living-room or the view given to us from the windshield of our cars, a horizon is always off at a distance throughout our day.
Great photographers realize this and counter by turning their cameras at an angle, more commonly that 90-degree angle known as a “verticle.” The top professional photographers predominately shoot vertical, as they know any time the human eye sees a vertical image, the impact on the mind is stronger as normal people don't run around with their heads turned looking at the world in a phallic manner.
It's no coincidence books and magazines sit on the shelves in a vertical manner, though their marketing departments will tell you it's to save shelf space. On the other hand, calendars are looked at over time and traditionally come in horizontal formats while magazines target that impulse value and surely will be in a vertical format.
|
||
Photograph of Candace in the dining room of my house, using black seamless paper background, a Dyna-Lite 1000wi power pack, two 2040 fan-cooled heads, both outfitted with Larson soft 48-inch soft strips and 40-degree, honeycomb grids. |
Magazine and newspaper photographers and their photo editors recognize the importance and impact of verticals too, as they must also contend with the principals of “layout and design” and will often settle for horizontals when needed for that critical "copy space" to fill, but their chances of choice are greater at choosing the impact effect offered by a vertical image-with the rare occasion of landscape photographers.
Hence no wonder why, models and photographers have portfolios, or their “books,” filled with more verticals than horizontals too. In fact, most model “comp” cards start with a vertical headshot as the lead image and many photographer promo cards are filled with vertical images too.
|
||
| Photograph of Isabella (left) and Noelia right. Both images taken with Olympus E-1 Digital SLR and an Olympus, Zuiko Digital 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 lens. Fill light with a California Sunbounce Mini, silver fabric on left image, right image with California Sunbounce Pro, zebra fabric and California Sunbounce srim above model. Camera mounted on a Bogen Monopod. White-balance set at 6000K. Location is Cozumel, Mexico. |
Tips to remember
Turn that camera to vertical shooting at least 50% of the time, don't' get stuck on horizontals-break those old habits, you're shooting photographs now, not pictures.
If you must shoot horizontals, here are some tips to consider:
--add some implied or imaginary lines within the image
--have your subject bend their arms, if it was meant to be bent, bend it
--find something to frame the image
--ensure you see imaginary diagonals and s-curves from your subject
--look for leading lines, both from the foreground and backgrounds.
When shooting verticals, watch the horizon, place it at the upper two-thirds-walk your audience to the top of the image. If you must place it somewhere else besides the upper part of the image, bring it down to the lower third, avoid the center of the image and make sure it doesn't slice through your subjet's head.
|
||
Photograph of Playboy model, Sarah Marie, on location, using a Dyna-Lite Unit400Jr with a JackRabbit battery pack and a Dyna-Lite 40-degree grid. |
On horizontals or verticals, if your subject is “looking” in one direction, make sure and allow room for that direction in your image and crop off the side away from their direction of view.
In conclusion
Next time you're walking down the street, you'll probably notice storefronts with vertical posters advertising their merchandise-makes sense, as that poster draws your attention from the horizon. Don't forget the power of verticals in your photography, it's worth waking up to, and to help you remember, don't forget we walk through doorways that are verticals and when we're looking for that door, it always stands out across that horizontal wall.
return to our main tips page
©2004 Rolando Gomez
return to our main tips page