Wednesday 10 January 2018

composition - What are the advantages of shooting a particular aspect ratio?


My camera can shoot in 4 different aspect ratios (4:3, 3:2, 16:9, and 1:1). Aside from personal preference of composition are there any advantages to choosing one over the other? Is there an industry standard?



Answer



My short answer: Always make images with your full sensor, and crop in post. In your case that's probably 4:3. Why throw away data sooner when you can do so later if necessary?


(Of course, this may be moot if you're shooting in raw and get all the data regardless of the in-camera crop. In that case, shoot with whatever suits your fancy, since you can always change it later.)


Another consideration: If your mental checklist for each frame includes choosing an aspect ratio, that's one more step you need to deal with when making every single image. And I assume changing aspect ratios involves a fair amount of button & menu fiddling.



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