Rediscovering Square Cropping
As I mentioned yesterday – I was recently going through some of the first images that I ever took (as well as some taken of me) and came a cross a series of shots that particularly caught my attention (some shots of me as a kid from the 70’s). The reason they caught my attention was because they were in a format you don’t see much these days…
they were all Square
These days the predominant format for images is the rectangle. Square cropping is often seen as ‘dated’ or boring – however I quite like it.
The Square format is a simple and uncomplicated one that is particularly useful for symmetrical images, especially where there is a central point of interest (of course there’s no rules on this – unsymmetrical images can also work nicely too).
So next time you are editing images see what impact a square cropping might have on your shots.
PS: just keep in mind that getting shots printed at labs in the square format can be a little tricky.
Here’s a few more examples of Square Cropping.
17 Responses to “Rediscovering Square Cropping” - Add Yours
October 31st, 2007 at 7:53 am
Thumbnails on Flickr are all square (at least when browsing sets) which makes for a consistent browsing experience — ie not thrown off by vertical and horizontal mixed images. I like this very much.
October 31st, 2007 at 8:09 am
I’ve got a load of square photos of me as a kid as well. It does show our age a bit though!
October 31st, 2007 at 9:52 am
I love square crops!
October 31st, 2007 at 8:47 pm
There is no need to stick to the format the camera delivers, but it’s always difficult to find the right crop for the right picture (or element thereof). I for my part think that square crops are neither boring nor outdated – if they’re handled right. In my opinion square picturers work best, when they contain very few elements and get some kind of “iconic”.
October 31st, 2007 at 9:12 pm
I love square format for minimalist/abstract pictures.
As Toras says, there is something iconic then.
October 31st, 2007 at 9:39 pm
The new Ricoh GR Digital II has a built-in square function :-)
I’ve always found 3:2 too rectangular for my pictures. I seldom go completely square, but the relatively squarer format of my Olympus Four-Thirds camera is definitely something that drew me to it.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:14 am
White House Custom Colour prints square formats. I believe it is $3.40 for a 10×10. I’ve just started to discover the square format and I’m in love. :)
November 1st, 2007 at 5:47 am
cropping is a must if you are a good photographer
charles
http://www.whatis.name
November 1st, 2007 at 7:23 pm
No, i disagree. Cropping is as option for everyone to change the impression of the picture you already have. There are plenty of perfect pictures that need no cropping at all.
I thought about the square thumbnails of flickr or zooomr and I think they show the difficulty and the beauty of square pictures. The thumbnails are small enough to show only one point of interest and they tend to look great. But when you click on them to get the greater image most of the time you’ll be disappointed because the real thing can’t satisfy the expectations you got from the thumbnail.
Torax
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:52 am
I’ve always found square photographs to be calming, quiet, and interesting. I’ve seen many portraits that I could hold my hands up, movie director like, in a square and find a real nice square image trying to get out of the rectangular.
Bob
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:05 pm
I love square prints, however I find it difficult to get decent frames that are square without getting them custom made!
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:29 am
I actually think a lot of these pictures would be better in a rectangular format…
November 7th, 2008 at 6:19 am
I love to square crop. Well actually I crop whatever is best for the picture, and if I can’t get the size I want in print I’ll get a full sized print and do my own cropping (scissors work quiet nicely). And I have found places that print square. Costco does it very reasonably as does MPix.
December 31st, 2008 at 6:31 am
Ritzphoto prints square. 5×5, but you could print a square print on an 8×10 and get an 8×8 that way and trim the rest!
October 9th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I like square cropping. Sometimes, I use square cropping on my images.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:17 am
I use square crops all the time, they’re one of my favorite ways to make an image more interesting. Personally I don’t think they’re outdated at all.
October 18th, 2009 at 1:00 am
“I love square prints, however I find it difficult to get decent frames that are square without getting them custom made!”
Good point, but you can avoid the cost of custom frames by buying unassembled lengths of molding, either metal or wood, from online suppliers or art-supply stores. And my local home center has a few basic frame profiles available in wood. Of course, assembling & finishing these would be tedious, unlike metal frames.
Of course, if you could find standard rectangular metal frames at a good price, you could simply buy two 8×10 frames and re-assemble them into 8×8 and 10×10.
I also keep an eye on the ready-to-hang “home decor” stuff which many stores carry these days. Sometimes it’s worth it to buy the item, toss the “artwork,” and just use the frame, and perhaps the matting.
Leave a Reply