Aspect ratios and presentations

[tomaplaw]

Hello,

I have a question for anyone who has recently shot a series or exhibited their work:

How important is it to keep the same aspect ratio in your select photos? I have a couple of shots that would benefit from a 5:7 crop over a 4:3. Is this a bad, unprofessional move?

Thanks!

 

[droj]

Essentially no, not at all, and variety might be enlivening. A series is about content, not format.

 

[Pookeyhead]

Hello,

I have a question for anyone who has recently shot a series or exhibited their work:

How important is it to keep the same aspect ratio in your select photos? I have a couple of shots that would benefit from a 5:7 crop over a 4:3. Is this a bad, unprofessional move?

Thanks!

Depends on the work, or how it's being shown. Exhibited work needs the ability to be curated properly, and must be cohesive as a body of work, but it's not essential everything is exactly the same shape, no, but there must be a good reason for it. If I knew I was exhibiting a series of images, I would make sure they're all in the same size and type of frames for example, so different sized images will give a problem in that respect. I'd remove the image from the show if it was giving me problems., or print it differently. A few large panels to break up a collection of frames can work, and allow you to get images that are difficult to curate into a show.

A series is about content, not format.

Not when exhibited physically it's not. How a show is curated can make, or break it. They don't have to be the same shape no, but you can't have a disparate collection of images nailed to a wall and call it an exhibition. There has to be cohesion. If it's part of a group exhibition you can get away with a salon style hang, but a solo show wouldn't work like that.