Aspect ratio relates to the dimensions of an image by comparing the width to the height and expressing it in ratio form.  It's written like this - width : height (width always comes first).  Aspect ratio is determined by the dimensions of your camera’s sensor (or the film type, if you have a film camera). Because the camera already has them figured out, we sometimes get used to using only one ratio over others and don't necessarily pay attention to them while photographing our subjects.  That is not the best world.

Some cameras (mine included) allow you to change the aspect ratio in camera, using the camera's menu.  But, you can also crop your photograph to a different aspect ratio in post-processing.

Why does aspect ratio matter? Well, without considering the aspect ratio when taking photographs of your subject, you might not leave enough room around your subject to frame well, or you may have too much empty space around the subject.  It's a good idea to become familiar with what the particular aspect ratio is with regard to your camera.  This will help you compose better images.

I often would rather leave too much, rather than too little space around my subject, because I can always crop down when processing the image. 

Our assignment this week was to take a photograph and crop it to different aspect ratio sizing to see which ratio might be best in a given situation.  For this week I took a sort of nondescript photograph of Bethy.  Here is the original.

Below are the cropped versions of this image in the following aspect ratio order - 1:1 (square), 3:2, 4:5, and 16: 9.  Take a look at each and compare them to each other.

This was a relatively easy image to use, because I did not have to worry about any additional things which might have surrounded Bethy.  In this case, my wide aperture blurred them out and added some bokeh and color.  But, you can see how things can get very complicated when there are items surrounding the subject that you may want to keep in the image. 

So which image aspect ratio appeals to you for this particular image?

I recently moved from a crop sensor camera to a full frame camera, and it took me a while to get used to the extra space I had in my images. I had to relearn how close to stand to my subjects and revamp my composition thinking when it came to how much to include or not include in a photograph. Aspect ratios were a help in this relearning process.

For more on aspect ratios, start here with BARKography by Kim Hollis, based in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Then, follow the link at the end of each blog post until you are back here again.  Happy reading!

This week is all about orientation--landscape or portrait--and how you choose to frame your subject.  What usually happens when I read the week's assignment is:  I will go to my past archive of photos and review my tendencies.  Having done that I can tell you, I definitely lean toward a landscape orientation in my work.  I do think I have been trying to move more in the vertical direction, but I tend to like to see more of a scene than less.

Cropping down to a vertical orientation requires a few things for me.  First, I have to make sure I have enough of what I want to include in the impact of the photo before I crop it down.  Second, I want to be sure that I am narrowing the viewer's eye to the specific things I want them to see.  Finally, it has to make sense.

I noticed that I generally go to a tight, vertical framing when there are a number of extraneous things in the scene that I don't want to include.

There was quite a bit going on around this puppy at a park event, and even though there is still an eye full of things behind him, a vertical orientation on this photo helps to narrow the eye to the subject and helps the viewer know where to look.

What to leave in and what to take out when framing can sometimes be a dilemma.  Sometimes you have no choice when trying to capture something...there might be things everywhere you look.  The concentration on the Pointer below was something I didn't want to miss.  Had I changed my angle, the resulting change in gaze wouldn't tell the story I wanted to tell, so I widened my aperture and blurred the background a bit. 

I have had opinions on cropping this down, but I honestly like the dog/human bond that nonchalantly going on just behind all this, which lends itself to telling you this was a "dog and people" event.  Framing this vertically would not have told the correct story for me.

Finally, I recently did a rescue transport of two dogs going to foster care.  My only opportunity to take their photos for the rescue coordinator, was in the hand off, which was in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel.  As you may or may not know, Cracker Barrel parking lots are not the best "studio" experiences.

It was a bit later in the day, and we parked a distance away from the main doors.  The first photo lent itself to being framed close to the dog (whose name was Pilot and who was sweeter than sugar). Pilot was also a stellar model and not afraid of the camera one bit.

My second passenger, Church, was a mover and a shaker who really did not want to stand still, was not completely convinced that my camera was a friendly thing, and who didn't understand that beyond the 10 minute pee break, he had one more leg of his journey and we needed to hustle.

I decided to use the entire parking lot scene as part of the story, almost like "I'm hitchin' a ride to freedom."

A few things about this image.  I used a wide angle lens which helped me tremendously when I had to edit out the person who was standing directly behind Church.  Yep, the next driver was walking him and her head was directly above his at the end of a long leash, and her legs were between his back legs.  Editing is a wonderful thing.

The sky did not look like this.  Sky overlays are also phenomenal when you have dull, gray blah.

Church's mark on his shoulder was something I left.  It is from a gunshot wound.  He is recovering.  It reminds us that some humans have no respect for animal life and think animals are throw away items.  Church is not any worse for having had humans who weren't the best.  In fact, he gave me small kisses on my cheek from his back-seat driver position on the way to his next stop.

So there you have it.  Framing and orientation.  The rule is, there is no rule.  Just be sure that you are satisfied that your photo is telling the story you want it to tell, whether you need to use the complete picture or not, and whether that story would look best in a landscape or portrait orientation.

You know what's next.  Head to the blog circle and see what's up in the rest of the world in terms of framing.  I think we have a brand new participant this week.  Welcome to Jessica Wasik of Bark & Gold Photography.  It's always great to welcome another photographer to the circle. Be sure to look for her blog post in the lineup. 

Get started with Darlene Dykas Woodward of Pant The Town Pet Photography, serving Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  Enjoy your weekend!

Our challenge this week was to take something we like and, instead of telling a story with just one photo, tell a story using a sequence of photos. The photos should have the same feel in terms of their location or edit process.  The best sequences will elicit emotion from the viewer.

The sequence below was taken on the same day, at the same time, in the same location.  It's a typical story of the love a dog has for his ball. Sometimes that story is simply "here it is, throw it for me."  But, sometimes it's about playing with the ball for the love of the ball alone--that point where a dog does not need a human to be involved, but enjoys the ball on his own.

I see this every day with Luke.

Some of the things I did to unify the story a bit more include: (1) turning it into black and white (sometimes grass and background can take away from the emotion which you are trying to convey in the frame); (2) using only the images where Luke clearly does not want human interaction between him and his ball; and (3) showing a sequence of events that work their way from Luke being in an upright position to his eventual roll over (and extended paw) with the ball.

When preparing for this week, I tried to think in terms of "before" and "after," which helped me to build a starting and ending point to the story.  I do think that as a photographer, this is a very normal process that we perform every day when we have sessions with our clients.  We have a series of ideas in our minds that we photograph, and they tend to be in a sequence.  That sequence allows us to build a cinematic story for our clients.

Not to detract from my cinematic story above, I have included one of the images below, in color. This will hopefully allow my blog host, Weebly, to choose this smaller image as the feature image when it shares the post in the early morning hours.  One can only hope.

To see more cinematic thinking, start this week's blog circle off with Kim Hollis of BARKography, based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Work your way through the links at the bottom of each blog until you are back here again.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  You can rest assured part of mine will include one small dog with an orange ball.