Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Squarification




I post a lot of my work on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/visualeigh/ and like to keep everything consistent in a square format. So whenever possible, I look at my photos and, if they’ll look just as good in a square format, I’ll crop and save that version as well, for a possible Instagram post.

Here are a couple examples of full-format pictures and their squarified versions.

DRAGONFLIES
I’ll be posting the square version of the dragonfly picture on Instagram, and here’s what the full-frame version looks like. I can’t really say that one is “better” than the other. It all depends on the final use of the photo, really. (Will it be a notecard, will it be for a framed print, for a magazine article illustration?)

That being said, however, I do like the full-frame version. Why? Because dragonflies fly! They need room to fly from and to. So I think the extra space helps with that concept of movement.

I uploaded both versions to Fine Art America, just to give people options. Here they are: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/two-dragonflies-square-carol-leigh.html

OLD FORD
Again, the square version of this picture will go on Instagram, but here’s how it also looks full-frame. The square version is appealing to me more today because it draws my attention right onto the subject. The full-frame version offers more “looking room,” but that slice of emptiness to the left isn’t all that interesting (to me). This one will not be going up on Fine Art America. Why? Looking at it at 100%, I’m not satisfied with the amount of sharpness.

So there you have it. Two photos, two versions each. One more way of looking at your photos — full-frame, or squarified. You be the judge.

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