You might have noticed up to now, that all pictures I presented here were in square format. As people are the center of my photos, I really like how the square format somewhat strengthens the focus on the subject. However, sometimes, the square format does not really work out – funnily, usually I read that the square format is rather the exception. But not for me so far. Lately, a number of pictures did not allow to be cropped down to square format and I tested some other formats – including quite large landscape styles. The perspective and impression of the pictures completely change and I am not really sure if I am really comfortable with those changes – probably, with more experience, I will get used to it. What is, however, really a big plus of other formats is that you can add much more context to the photos and the main subject. In the picture below, I saw the man in the center – who already is worth a picture himself – was standing out from the crowd: while everybody (and there were many many people around) watched the animations of a bell tower, the man was not really up to it and just continued walking. Looking at his expression, might even suggest that he does not know what all the trouble is about. In order to capture the context and other people, I opted for a very wide style here. The effect the format has on the man on the right closest to me is a bit odd and adds something puzzling to the photo.

In another situation, you might need a landscape style to capture all necessary information of the moment. This is true for the delivery man below. Quite impressed by his ability to carry many parcels with him for delivery, a landscape style suits best.

I really got used to the square format – and still think it’s my favorite style – but experimenting with alternative formats is highly interesting as you see the impact the format has on the scene in the picture.