The vast majority of my photography is in square format
it has been this way for quite a few years now
in this video, I'm gonna share with all of you some things I've learned over the years
about square format
I hope that even if you don't shooting square,
you can still get some helpful and useful information from this video
I'm gonna be covering some of the topics I talk about in an e-book I'm releasing today
about how to make images in square format
this book is available for free to all my patreons
and it's also available for purchase on my website for everyone else
so, why?
why are we even talking about square format?
what does it give us that other aspect ratios don't?
well, a square is a pretty balanced shape, each side is of the same length
as opposed to the landscape format
which generally speaking lends itself to a more side-to-side analysis of the image
and to a vertical shot, where we are going gonna be moving up and down
a square image is gonna promote a more circular analysis
a more circular movement within the frame
in a way, there is no beginning and there is no end
in my opinion, a square image feels quieter
and that is very welcome in a world where we are being yelled at all the time
for me, it's a departure from that, as it lets me embrace the silence and stillness of a scene
and, of course, I also like it because it's different
even though smartphone apps like Hipstamatic or Instagram made the square format cool again
the history of square goes way back
the first square cameras date back to the 20s and 30s, in the past century
with brands like roliflex and voigtlander being among the first
of course, it was during the 50s and the 60s when hasselblad joined the party
and made square format kind of popular among top photographers
it was a hasselblad camera that made it to the moon
and as far as I know, the images from those first landings were in square
anyway, fast forward to today, the most popular aspect ratios are 3x2 and 4x3
those are the default in most digital cameras today
there are also no square digital sensors being made today, as far as I know
which is too bad, because a square sensor would actually take
more advantage of the image circle projected by the lens
as you can see in this diagram that I put together
the difference is not very big, but still
it is a fact that a square sensor would have a bigger surface than a rectangular
3x2 sensor used in most aps-c and full-frame cameras today
you might be already familiar with my personal story with square format
so I'm not going to bore you one more time
the one thing I'll say is that I learned most of what I know about the square format
by using a bronica SQ-Ai, a 6x6 medium format film camera
today, I should mostly digital and sadly, and ironically enough
my camera does not support the 1:1 aspect ratio
so every time I look at the screen or through the viewfinder
I see the whole sensor, the 3:2 rectangular shape of the sensor
to help me compose the square images, I use what is called the "square grid"
I even put gaffer tape on the screen, but that doesn't solve the problem with the viewfinder
in any case, as far as I know, even those cameras that do support the square format
most of them, if you shoot in raw, they will still capture the whole 3x2 readout of the sensor
some of them will include some metadata in the raw files
so the editing software will know that you shot that image in square
and it will crop it automatically for you
as I said, my camera has none of that, so I have to manually crop them in post
it is one extra step, but it's totally worth it because I really love square images
so let's talk about some compositional techniques we can use in our square images
some of them will be more specific to the square format
but most of them can be applied in some way to whatever aspect ratio you might be using
one important thing here is that I believe that
you should be thinking in square from the beginning
you should compose for that final square image
of course, you can revisit some old rectangular images and find some good square crops
but you're gonna get much better results if you go for the square
intentionally from the beginning
the first one is to place the subject in the center
so the rule of thirds doesn't really apply to square
you can still use it, but placing the subject in the center is the most natural way to compose
this works especially well with clean images
when there are not too many distracting elements around the subject
as we said earlier, the eye tends to move in a circle around the frame
so the cleaner the image, the better
this is a composition I love
I have quite a few examples, as I believe it makes for very peaceful, still, serene and calm images
another very important compositional element to keep in mind when composing square
is where to place the horizon
in square format, we could split the frame in two, and it would look amazing
this works very well
it could be done horizontally, as you can see in these examples
or it could even be done vertically, as well
and then, of course, we could place it on the lower third of the image
or the top third of the image
with very different results
a lower horizon is gonna give the elements, the sky, the clouds, whatever we have there
much more importance
if we have a subject on that horizon, it's going to feel smaller and more vulnerable
the opposite is true
when we place the horizon on the top third of the frame, the subject will feel much bigger
the dominant force in the landscape
here, I find it very useful to divide the square frame in nine smaller squares
this can help quite a lot
not only with the horizon placement, but also with subject placement
let's talk now about some of the things that we can do to guide the viewer through the frame
because the last thing we want for them is to become lost
the image doesn't have to be obvious at all
as you know, I like to create mystery in my images
but you have to give the viewer something
some kind of instructions of how to read the image
one technique I like to use is gradients, both exposure and focus gradients
what I mean by exposure gradient is a smooth transition from dark tones to bright tones
or the other way around
so we can lead the viewer to whatever we want in the frame
a good example is this image I made at the great salt lake in utah
there is no subject in this image
but I use that transition from the bottom left darker tones
to the top right brighter tones to guide the viewer in that direction
another example, a little bit more subtle
is this image from madeira, from the Fanal forest
as you can see, the bottom left in the original image is quite bright and is quite distracting
by applying a linear gradient in post, I made it darker
so the movement of the eye becomes more clear
the same idea applies to what I call focus gradient
this is a smooth transition from out of focus to in focus,
and again out of focus elements in the frame
it is, once again, just another tool that we can use to guide the viewer through the image
as you can see in this image from death valley national park, of this dune
the very close foreground is slightly out of focus
then the ripples of the sand become more and more in focus
they look sharper
and once again, the mountains in the background are out of focus
that smooth change in focus along with the natural direction of the ripples
guides you across the frame, in this case
leading lines
leading lines is a very important compositional technique in any aspect ratio
including square format
in my opinion, there are two types of leading lines that we can use in square
with very different effects in how we read, how we interpret the image
the first type is a bottom to top, or side to side leading line
in my opinion, those leading lines are very useful at helping the viewer get across the frame
while at the same time keeping that stillness and peacefulness and calmness of the square format
the same cannot be said for diagonal lines
diagonal lines, in my opinion, create a lot of tension and can make for very dramatic images
they break that circular movement of the eye
the natural movement that we have with square format images
these are a couple of examples of the same subject, but shot in different ways
in ways that show the subject as a diagonal line, or as a straight bottom-to-top line
as you can see, the images with the bottom to top line feel a little bit more balanced
while the other ones, with the diagonal lines, they are more tense and more dramatic
layers
we finally made it to my favorite compositional technique for square format images
as I said, many times the eye tends to move in a circle around the square frame
but that's not always the case
sometimes, we take the image as a whole
there is no movement at all
one way to achieve this is by layering elements in the frame
so instead of moving around the frame, we move in
we zoom in, we get deeper and deeper in the image
I have no better example than this image I made in the eastern sierra, in california
as you can see, there is a mountain behind a mountain behind a mountain
to create those layers, we can take advantage of that natural
effect that happens when you have objects at different distances from you
as the closest objects will look darker, and the farther away objects will look brighter
another way to create layers in your square images is to use that division we did earlier
you might remember, into nine smaller squares
for example, look at this image I made in lago di garda in italy
as you can see, the first layer is the foreground on the lower third of the frame
then we have the subject and the middle ground
and then we have the background on the top third of the frame
those are three layers
shapes
the square format can accommodate other shapes within the frame
much better, actually, than other aspect ratios
especially when it's other squares or circles
so here you are seeing a couple examples
the second one, from the grand canyon, is the classic case case of a frame within a frame
these were some of the compositions I look for when I'm making square images
and that is always
as I said, I have a few more in the book
I have plenty more examples as well
you can also check out an older video of
mine about square format that I made some four years ago
I'm gonna leave the link up there
I hope this was useful information, regardless of whether you're shooting square or not
but if you don't, you should give it a try
you might like it!
if it helped in any way, please consider giving a thumbs up to this video
and subscribing to the channel if you want to see more videos like this
that's all for today
thank you so much for watching, and see you in the next one!