Intervention Requested: My Habit Is Out of Control

[mike3996]

Some of my best landscapes are portraits.

 

[Bobby T]

I photograph people mainly. Started to say shoot people, but that sounds bad . So portrait orientation is the norm for me. And it spills over to other subjects often.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I shoot mostly in landscape mode. Not sure why, but I do. And then, I usually, but not always, crop the shot squarely. I just like the way it looks. I wonder if it has anything to do with years of viewing 4:3 TV screens when I was young? Or maybe that is how our vision is programmed?

 

[archaeopteryx]

I hadn't thought of that, but I don't think it is in my case.

I'm having more trouble finding data than I'd expect. Phone use in general is about 90% portrait but I'm not seeing an analysis of image orientations from phone cameras. There is a small poll, ahem, elsewhere that's probably more about ILCs.

Personally, it's uncommon for me to use portrait on either phone or ILC. But most of the images I gather are of landscapes (or outdoor subjects) rather than portraits.

 

[Grinsaround]

I shoot mostly in landscape mode. Not sure why, but I do. And then, I usually, but not always, crop the shot squarely. I just like the way it looks. I wonder if it has anything to do with years of viewing 4:3 TV screens when I was young? Or maybe that is how our vision is programmed?

I shot a 500/CM for a long time and dearly loved that camera. Square made so much sense to me and I still prefer it over other proportions for most things. I even have the bad habit of looking at other images and instinctively framing parts of it square in my mind. I guess even when I don’t shoot it that way, it still sort of is… square to me. I am admittedly an odd bird though.

I only really use my phone when I don’t really care or just to grab a shot for something. Landscape, portrait, crooked, uneven, anything will do for that and it usually shows.

 

[mumu]

This thread made me scan through my Instagram acct (Login • Instagram) to confirm my assumption that I primarily shoot in landscape orientation when doing my street photography. But I was surprised to see that it looks more like a 50:50 split between portrait and landscape (I didn't count my earliest Instagram photos because I cropped them square to suit Instagram's native format).

But despite having so many portrait orientation photos, I almost always capture the image in landscape mode for two reasons:

1. 95% of the time I shoot using the rear single-axis screen folded out, like a TLR.
2. On sunny days I'm wearing a hat and it's simply easier to shoot in landscape mode than holding it a right-side-down portrait orientation in order for the camera to fit under the hat brim.

But for travel photos, the majority of my photos are landscape orientation.

 

[BosseBe]

When I think about how I orient the camera, I think I almost always start in landscape mode, that is the way the camera is built, then if I feel that I need more height in the picture I will turn to portrait mode. I guess I am more then 75% landscape.
That said sometimes the object just calls out for portrait from the beginning, like tall buildings.

 

[MountainMan79]

I shot a 500/CM for a long time and dearly loved that camera. Square made so much sense to me and I still prefer it over other proportions for most things. I even have the bad habit of looking at other images and instinctively framing parts of it square in my mind. I guess even when I don’t shoot it that way, it still sort of is… square to me. I am admittedly an odd bird though.

I only really use my phone when I don’t really care or just to grab a shot for something. Landscape, portrait, crooked, uneven, anything will do for that and it usually shows.

Glad to see you here Glenn!

 

[gordo]

I do mostly landscape, but will rotate into portrait and take a look. Some subjects really fit it better (like buildings as BosseBe mentioned above). And like others have mentioned, I prefer 4:3 portrait for landscape. Or square.

IMHO, shoot what works for you.