In past years my eyes and brain have accepted a 3:2 aspect ratio is “normal” for photos – whatever that means. But here of late, shooting with my Canon S90 and now my Olympus E-M5, I’ve been shooting at a 4:3 aspect, often composing with a 3:2 finished product in mind, so as to use all of the smaller sensor — then cropping the images to 3:2 during post-processing. But then, I always liked portrait photos at 4:3 more then 3:2 portrait photos — funny how our minds work.
This frequent exposure to 4:3 aspect ratio has had the effect of it seeming “more normal” to me now and I’m finding more photos I’ve taken/composed lose, in my opinion, too much cropped to 3:2. So was the case here.
These waterfall/cascade photos were taken on our autumn mountain jaunt this past weekend.
Photos from this brief visit will be my only autumn mountain photo opportunity in 2012 as we are expecting our first grandchild (a grandson) by the end of this month followed by our second grandchild (a granddaughter) in December. Holidays, and life in general, will never be the same. :-)
You’re killing me, Earl. ;) Beautiful shots. I’m trying to wait until Debra gets here on the 15th, but I’m itching to go! LOL – Looking Glass Falls is looking very nice!
Regarding the 4:3/3:2 formats, I find that I am pretty ‘stuck’ on 3:2, though I do try to accept 4:3 because, for example, the P-510’s full sensor is 4:3, but I end up cropping anyway because if I frame it, I choose 9 x 6 or 12 x 8. Perhaps it is time to look at different frame sizing. Food for thought along with beautiful photos.
Yeah, and on the 15th, or shortly there after, you’ll be killing me with beautiful photos of fall colors from the mountains while I sit here waiting. :-)
Thanks, Paul.
The 4/3 or 8×10 format does seem a lot more natural, especially for verticals. That was one of the many things I liked about shooting with the 6×7 rangefinder and one of the things that attracts me to the compact cameras. I still find myself cropping verticals to that format.
I like your not-so-typical interpretation of Looking Glass Falls. That is a tough one to make your own.
I’ve looked and looked for an actual name for that waterfall on SR 215, but the best I could come up with was “Waterfall on West Fork Pigeon River.” Doesn’t seem right for such a large cascade so close to the road.
The Looking Glass Falls photo was more about desperation then inspiration, Tom. :-) It was crowded with all the Sunday day tourist, so instead of hiking down to the foot of the falls I climbed up on the railing/wall at the top and took this shot just over the heads of people walking up/down the stairs.
It was a nice little waterfall on SR 215 but I wonder how much the recent rain had to do with the volume of water we experienced. It would be interesting to see it sometime after it’s been dry for a while.
First grandkids! How exciting! Yes, you are going to be pretty busy–in a very good way. And a great chance to use your photography with photogenic subjects around!
Cheers, Eric
Thanks, Eric. We’re excited!
Yeah, a whole new set of photographic skills I’m going to have to develop — baby/child photography. I hope I’m up to it. :-)
I must be honest here, I never, at least up until recently, paid attention to the crop ratio. As a result I have prints that are, for the most part, non-standard in size. This necessitated learning to cut mattes for prints myself. But I do favor the standard 2:3 for portraits usually and for landscapes the ratios are completely dependent on the shot itself.
You have picked excellent ratios for these beautiful photos, Earl. And I guess congratulations are in order for your up-coming grandchildren. I guess we all know what direction you’re photography is going to take in the near future.
Ken, thanks.
I only pay attention to aspect ratios in regards some look more “natural” to me and also if I’m printing/framing photos. However, that “natural” response is obviously a learned behavior and it can change — which was the basis of this post.
No doubt I’ll be taking a lot of grandchild photo’s but like now I’ll keep those personal/family photographs separate from this blog. I’m sure it won’t turn me into a baby/child photographer. :-)
I love that second shot Earl, particularly for the texturing and color of the rocks on either side of the stream. Seems your theme was changing as I was typing this. :-)
Thanks, Mark.
Yes, the theme probably was changing. :-( My shared web host “CPU police” notified me my site was using too much CPU resources several days ago so I’ve been exploring, learning and changing everything I can to try and get those numbers down. I’ve changed the WP-CRON job schedule, reduced my plug-ins and installed caching (which is a story into itself) but it didn’t make much difference. I’m thinking now it may be the dynamic Shaken Grid theme I recently went to, so I fell back to my previous theme this morning and have been making a few adjustments.
My hosting company ICDSOFT has been really good working with me thus far but there is a hammer hovering over my head if I can’t tame this beast. :-o
This whole process might be a post into itself — if the blog is still here!
A beautiful image in any format. It is interesting how our perceptions change under differing circumstances.
Hi Don, yes it is interesting about out perceptions but I guess it’s a good think as it perhaps indicates we’re continuing to change and hopefully grow. Thanks!
That means you’re getting older? Gonna catch up to me. I’ve never been concerned about crops but I do find some images need different crop based on subject or composition. I’ve shot almost entirely in 35mm until I purchased the G12. You are so right, “Holidays, and life in general, will never be the same.” Enjoy it!
LOL…everything seems to mean I’m getting older these days, Monte! :-)
I intend to enjoy those grandchildren…good memories might be the most precious thing I can leave them.
With respect to aspect ratios, I find that I tend to prefer my images more rectangular. On this past trip, I made a few interesting (I think) panoramas just for that reason. It’s the one thing I don’t like about my EM-5 – I wind up cropping to make it more rectangular than square. Not that it matters all that much to me – it depends on the image. but given my druthers, I’ll lean toward rectangular.
Man, I guess I’m the ancient one. One of my grandchildren is already 13. A teenager, for heavens sake. So I’m a little jealous, Earl. Having young grandchildren is a lot of fun. Especially around holidays. You’ll love it.