Some Insight Into My Pesky Challenge of Aspect Ratios
I shoot with a mirrorless 4/3rds Olympus camera. I bought the camera, not for street photography, but rather for bird photography. It is comparatively small and lightweight. It probably enabled me to take up street photography, because in street photography, the smaller the camera you shoot with, the better.
I have had two problems with using the Olympus for street photography. First, it produces rather small image files, only 20 MP. This size file is just fine if you never have to crop it. I always have to crop mine because I am totally incapable of composing a scene that does not have to be cropped.
The other downside, from my perspective, is the native aspect of my Olympus is 4:3. That means that if I print out of camera, the long side will be 4” and the short side will be 3”.The traditional aspect in street photography 3:2. That is the aspect of both the historical and current film cameras. It is the aspect of the full frame digital cameras, the mobile cameras, most of the Canons, Nikons and Leicas. Horizontal street photos just look better to me when they are 3” long and 2” tall.
I was quite happy with this image, but it had a flaw, an n-1, as I like to say. I should have probably lifted my camera upward, because the original image has a big expanse of light, boring concrete. If you are open to any aspect, the solution is simple. I cropped to a 6x4. That took nothing off of the sides and everything off of the bottom. I am pretty interested in taking nothing off of the sides because I like the way the Army woman seems to be looking at the dancers. On the other side there is a tiny, but fascinating, face peeking through.
I used this image in my project for Vineet’s workshop. I had to maintain the original 4:3 aspect. The bottom still had to be cropped, but that meant the side also had to be cropped. Goodbye interesting face.
Because I am not really happy with the Olympus native aspect, I have never committed to it. I almost always crop to some other aspect. No loyalty to a particular aspect means my pictures are all sorts of different sizes. If you think in terms of producing single images, that does not matter so much. If you are trying to put a project together, it matters a lot. The virtual workshop I am a taking with Vineet Vohra ends with each photographer presenting a 6-8 picture project. You have to choose between color and b&w and you have to settle on an aspect. For better or worse, I settled on a 5:4 aspect. That is truly almost square. Vineet asked me why I would (ever) make that choice. I could not think of an answer.
Of course, on reflection, there is an answer. If there is one thing a camera with a 4:3 aspect does well, it is the production of an 8x10 print. It is a quick two step process. In post production choose an 10:8 aspect ratio, rotate it to 8:10 and then crop. If you are a street photographer who likes to take street portraits primarily, the 4:3 aspect is the one for you. To be honest, it has served me pretty well for years. Because I did not have a good handle on horizontal compositions, I would choose the rotated 8:10 aspect and then crop to the interesting part of the picture.
This certainly has its flaws, mainly the fellow in red in the background. But, I considered it for the workshop project. This is the crop as a 4x3.
I re-cropped it to a square so that I could add it to a new project called, The Gang’s All Here. I can be very flexible when I comes to aspect.
When I took Vineet’s in-person workshop, I got real interested in taking horizontal pictures that had layers. Because I was accustomed to using the 10:8 ratio, I generally cropped to that size. I always needed to get rid of the extraneous stuff on the edges, anyway. However, it is not a very satisfying shape for that kind of street photo. I even got to thinking I might have to buy a new camera.
Because of Vineet’s questioning I have realized that staying with my native aspect is not a bad choice. It is less of a square than 5:4. For the project, I had to go back and re-crop to 4:3 all of the photos I had submitted to Vineet. I now realize I have choices that I can stick with. I may land on the 7:5 aspect if I can clean up my act so that I do not have to crop off anything on the sides. That aspect is just one step away from the 3:2 aspect. Or I may pursue a consistent 4:3 aspect.
This workshop was not inexpensive, but it sure cost less than a new camera. I now know I can live with my Olympus 4:3 aspect. I got my money’s worth in the workshop for that bit of insight, alone.