Posts Tagged ‘Instagram’

Square Presentations

©TimeLine Media - square crop - Fashion NoVA model

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.

©TimeLine Media - square crop -  Fashion NoVA model
©TimeLine Media – square crop – Fashion NoVA model

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:

©TimeLine Media - 4 Composite Square - Flowers
©TimeLine Media – 4 Composite – Flowers

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!

©TimeLine Media - ballroom dance photo
©TimeLine Media – ballroom dance photo

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Square Photo Sunday

©TimeLine Media - Duller Airport from Garage 1

Instagram has resurrected a trend in photography that has not been as popular since the medium format hey day. Medium format refers to the size of the film that was used in the camera. Comparatively, the 35mm film, the most popular in consumer cameras, was a small format compared in size to 120/220 film of medium format cameras. The film is 6cm in width – considerably larger than the 24 x 36mm size of 35mm film. Popular medium format cameras at the time used the 6×6 format when making images. Hasseblad, Bronica, Rolleiflex, produced a 6×6 image when using the 120 film.

©TimeLine Media - Duller Airport from Garage 1
©TimeLine Media – Duller Airport from Garage 1

There are some advantages to a square image in using these cameras. Due to the symmetrical format of the frame, there is no need to change the orientation of the camera. The photographer does not have to decide if the frame needs to be wider to show an expansive landscape, or taller to get more of a person’s body in the frame. With smartphones, this can be very helpful.

The Instagram app uses the bottom part of the screen for making options and editing decisions. The top part is cropped to a square to fit the image. With this setup, you do not have to move the smartphone screen to take your image – it is always correct with your finger over the button to take your image. Just like with the camera, you no longer have to switch orientations. Follow me on Instagram here if you would like to see my attempts at the square format. There is a mix of images taken with my DSLR, and some taken with my smartphone, but I try to keep them all square!

©TimeLine Media - Ms. Maryland 2013
©TimeLine Media – Ms. Maryland 2013

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Evolution of Post Processing – Tech Thursday

©TimeLine Media - ballroom dance photo

With the internet, it is quite easy to be exposed to many good photographers. For me, post processing of photos can really separate competent photographers from outstanding ones. As with every other aspect of photography, concentrating on only one part of the craft can eventually hurt the quality of your work. You can concentrate on things like – buying gear, social media, marketing your business, making new photos, or post processing. If you only concern yourself with one of these aspects of photography, the others will suffer.

Dance Photography

In being a ballroom dance event photographer, I get the opportunity to make thousands of photos at an event. Post processing takes a lot of my time after events. Looking back at some of my first photos, I can see that I really went overboard using effects and sliders in Lightroom. The effects were good at attracting attention to my images on social networks, and I really had a lot of fun making them.

©TimeLine Media - ballroom dance photo
©TimeLine Media – ballroom dance photo
©TimeLine Media - ballroom dance photo
©TimeLine Media – ballroom dance photo

These “cross processing” presets in Lightroom used color shifts to emulate purposely incorrect film processing in the darkroom to create the effects. Some also used heavy darkening of corners to highlights subjects. This was a cutting-edge way to create photos. Since then, the explosion of Instagram, and other photo editing apps on iPhones and Android has made these looks more prevalent online. (For the record, I have recently joined Instagram, and actually enjoy it!)

So with the change in styles that I am seeing, I have gone back to doing less to photos, and leaving them as close to in-camera capture as I can. This is just another phase until the next thing comes out. For photographers, the message is making your images as best you can in camera, then post process them as you like it at the time. It will make you happy with the creative process and will mark eras in your photography life. We are digital photographers now. We don’t have different film stocks, or film chemistry that will change with the times. The best part is we have RAW files that make the transition with us, metadata, and all. So, you can always revisit photos as they were and update them, or not!

Here is where I am today, and I hope you come back to see what comes next –

©TimeLine Media - ballroom dance photo
©TimeLine Media – ballroom dance photo
©TimeLine Media - ballroom dance photo
©TimeLine Media – ballroom dance photo

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208