[keithw]

I have a couple of posters hanging on my wall that are in portrait orientation. Deciding that it's about time to replace one of them I looked through my photos to find a replacement.

Something that became very, very obvious is that the vast majority (probably rather more than 95%) are in landscape orientation. And that's despite the fact that I have a grip on one of my K3s which, in theory, makes taking photos in portrait mode much easier.

Got me wondering, am I alone in my overwhelming preference for landscape photos?

[stevebrot]

Got me wondering, am I alone in my overwhelming preference for landscape photos?

No, you are not alone. Our eyes sort of work that way. That being said, conventional wisdom is to make an effort to consider vertical composition(s) among the options for your subject.


Steve

[Roadboat24]

I think i end up with so many in landscape is because i get lazy or get in a hurry. I prefer portraits to be in portrait and landscapes to be in landscape. But when I'm shooting i dont think and just push the button. Shame on me....

[hadi]

i have no real preference. if you look up my instagram, as of late, i'm alternating shots between landscape and portraits. i shoot portraits in both landscape and portrait settings. i shoot landscape in both portrait and landscape settings.

[rod_grant]

Sometimes it is just obvious which aspect should be used (see below); sometimes we have to work at it (which I am either not good at, or too lazy).

Just for example, the first one is looking down the boardwalk/steps. The second one is the same boardwalk looking back.

[Auzzie-Phoenix]

I'd say it depends on subject. If you're shooting portraits or tall structures, then portrait is the way to go in most cases. Landscape/astro is usually better in landscape (with exception if you're trying to get a nice vertical milky way shot). Wildlife can go either way equally.

[pschlute]

I think it is the hardware we use to view pictures that is the cause behind this. We all (or most of us) will have a monitor that is longer than it is tall. Mine is 2560x1440 pixels. When I create a picture in landscape orientation that i want to view in full screen I resize to 2160x1440. if I create one in portrait orientation I have to use 1440x1152. It is by its nature a smaller image.

When we only had prints to view our photos they would (usually) all be printed the same size (eg 10x8) irrespective of orientation. Our landscapes would be 10" wide and our portraits would be 10" tall.

I think it is the size restriction that prevents me from using portrait orientation, unless the picture is well, a portrait

[leekil]

I think it's more likely the hardware used to take the photo, more than the hardware used to display it. The "natural" way of holding a DSLR results in landscape-orientation photos. For a phone, I expect that portrait photos are more common. And I would expect portrait-orientation photos are more common on a Fuji GA645i (they are I'm my experience, anyway).

Camera review: Fuji GA645i - ?The Portrait Machine? by Anil Mistry | EMULSIVE

[pschlute]

You Tube

You Tube

[ChatMechant]

Kind of the opposite here, preferring portrait orientation most of the time(and I don't do portraits). I should just split the difference and use square crop mode more often.

[jatrax]

I have a rule that if I shoot something one way I also shoot the same or similar the other way. If I'm on a tripod that is a little harder but I still try.

[ramseybuckeye]

Landscape is more natural in the way we see things, because your eves are side by side, if they were stacked on top of each other it would be the opposite.






Of course I made this up and it's tongue in cheek.

[BrianR]

Depending on how I count (e.g. everything in my LR catalog, or select favorite collections, or things I've printed, etc.), I'm at about 55-63% in portrait orientation. I dunno, it's just the way things I like to photograph usually 'fit'.

[JensE]

I think it is the hardware we use to view pictures that is the cause behind this.

It definitely used to be this way for me. In the pre-digital age, I actually made an effort to shoot entire slide series for projection exclusively horizontally oriented, because this is how the silk screen was set up. In contrast to the monitor or digital projector today, there was no fast way to change magnification on the projector. So you were left with smallish projection or the single choice of orientation. I did add vertically oriented shots exclusively for printing.

It took a while to "unlearn" that. Maybe that should not be past tense, but I e.g. have a preference for vertical fish-eye landscapes now.

[microlight]

Many of my pictures are used in my screensaver library, so I purposely frame the majority of my pictures in landscape - and then go further, cropping to 16:9 for screen backgrounds.