Exercise - Vertical and horizontal frames. - 3

Example 8.

More ceilings in the shopping centre, this time taken on the way in. The vertical format gives a good overall view of the roof and an idea of the length of the corridors in the building. The shodows mirror the glass and make an interesting pattern to balance the pattern of the glass.

The horizontal view(on the way out)  gives an odd perspective to the image, and is rather distorted. The effect of the shadows is less pronounced .

Example 9.

In the view of the street going down the hill to the distant fields the vertical format emphasises the height of the buildings and the sense of enclosure in the narrow street. The image was taken in bright sunlight but was almost directly facing the sun which was just blocked out by the buildings.

The horizontal version is much less effective at showing the visual distance and turns into a rather dull image of a street in apparently poor weather conditions.

Example 10.

This vertical image is cramped and, although showing the stalks and a leaf does not show the flower as the most important part of it. More attention is drawn to the roof and the lines of the glass.

In the horizontal image the flower clearly takes the central stage, giving a better balanced image where the eye's attention is drawn to it rather than to the surrounding area.

Example 11.

This image gives a good impression of the shape of the bananas growing on the tree and echos the upright shape of the fruit itself. An image taken with a slightly wider angle lens, or from further away, would show the whole bunch and some of the tree and possibly be more effective.

This format emphasises the roundness of the bunch rather than its sheer size and gives an extra dimension to the picture. Ther is also a tension between the upright bananas and the horizontal format. Both images work but show different information about the scene.

These 11 pairs of images show that images of a wide range of subjects can be taken either horizontally or vertically, both when taking distance views and close up details. However not all are equally successful and one needs to think about the purpose of the image and the focal point before making a decision. It is worth exploring both possibilities as it is not always the most obvious one that is the most successful.