It has been about 2 months since I last wrote about square cropping for photos. Now the new iOS 7 has a Square format for iPhone users to easily compose photos in this format. I have found it a much different way to compose photos in the app. I suspect this is the same if you switched from a 35mm format camera to an old 6×6 medium format camera.
Like minimalism, the restrictions by using these dimensions can open up some creative possibilities. I have come across a lot of square collection lately in magazines that have caught my eye. Some are historic photographs, especially those looking back on the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, and some are current photo projects just cropped to these dimensions. This is a very easy composition to put together into composites:
And the square format works for so many subjects – both still life and action photos. I had to look through the portfolio to find at least one ballroom dance photo that would work well. The challenge in finding one was looking for ones that had both dancers in full extension , but that would fit in the frame without too much extra space above and below them. I found one at the Arthur Murray Fall Freestyles. It was harder to find one that worked as well as this one!
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