Comments on: Square Photography: 7 Reasons the Square Format Is Amazing

By: Catherine Bowlene

Catherine Bowlene — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 06:24:10 +0000

I don’t like the 1:1 aspect ratio and I never use it. I do portraits mostly and square format doesn’t exactly suit them imo. There is a great article about cropping headshots and it also mentions that 1×1 square only makes sense for profile pictures on social media- https://ams-photo-software.com/photo/cropping-headshots.php

By: Gomes Tom

Gomes Tom — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 04:09:05 +0000

I love 1:1 aspect ratio and use it quite often for composition reasons, but it is also great for social media and most web applications. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/99105c6a1f7f69bc8574f3cca4238ff38f66ad1b4780b4b086107c50af33e903.jpg

Sorry, the upload degraded substantially, but the composition is valid

By: Vasilis

Vasilis — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 10:14:30 +0000

In reply to jumbybird. I absolutely agree. In film times there was limited flexibility with cameras. Now post processing allows cropping to your taste or to the requirements of the scene.

By: Walter Baliero

Walter Baliero — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 20:06:30 +0000

I would never use a square format for my photographs, I consider that that looks like simple advertisements, in fact the gratest paints by the most famous artists were always in 3×2 and vice versa or 16×9 or similar. Namely, Salvator Mundi, La Gioconda and Da Vinci’s Last Supper; Las Meninas, by Velazquez; The Scream by Munch; Starry Nigh by Van Gogh, The Persistence of Memory by Dali, etc. excepto for portraits.

By: Anthony Hodgkin

Anthony Hodgkin — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 16:20:51 +0000

I experimented using square format on my iPhone and now it’s my fave for that medium. When I use my cameras though, predominantly for landscapes, I stick with rectangular format. Whatever makes you happy though eh?

By: Justin Case

Justin Case — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 22:22:40 +0000

I’ve just realised that although this post is on the current Bloglovin’ newsletter (28 July 2021) it’s at least seven years old!

By: Albin

Albin — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 06:52:14 +0000

Not an online media poster, so it’s interesting to think about this. I can’t recall ever seeing compositional indicators like grids recommended for square format. (I generally use thirds for landscape format, to line up angles and often to compose. Simple cross-hairs or golden triangle and fibonacci guides might be fun to try in a square.)

By: Rob Vermeulen

Rob Vermeulen — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 18:19:00 +0000

I stumbled upon this old discussion, but it gave rise to some thoughts I would like to share.
1. Why is there less room in a square frame than in a rectangular one? The opposite is just as true…
2. Composition is not just about placing objects inside the frame. Think about how your image will be viewed: on a screen or printed in a book or a magazine, both of which are mostly rectangular. This influences how we see the picture. Viewing the images in this article on my (horizontal) computer screen makes me think they are slightly portrait-like. When I look at them on my iPad in portrait mode, they seem wider than they are.
3. Continuing on 2.: TV is by far not the only medium that restricts aspect ratio. Many news websites are landscape only and will use ‘inverted cropping’ when they have to publish a portrait or square photo, placing it inside their 3:2 or 16:9 frame – if they don’t simply crop away your beautiful composition.

By: A K Nicholas

A K Nicholas — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 00:30:00 +0000

I love square compositions. I have had numerous images that crop better as squares than as rectangles. Lately I’ve been shooting specifically for square proportions.

By: jumbybird

jumbybird — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 03:25:00 +0000

I don’t get the big deal why people have preferences, or why square vs rectangular… I take a picture, and sometimes when I edit, I’ll crop in all strange ways, it depends on what looks good to me. Wide, super wide, tall, portrait, 3:2, square… it all depends on the scene and what you want to emphasize. Why get bottled into a format? It’s not like you’re doing TV and have to fit a 16:9 screen exactly. It’s what is pleasing to my eye that matters.
As far as some saying square is “pretentious”. BULL…