An interesting anecdote is that the first working television from John Logie Baird shot and displayed in Portrait. Nothing is really new, and landscape format won out because of its better versatility for storymaking. It had to win out as you could not have both ways ... then.
The examples that Apple showed in the demo of outpainting in IOS27 were not very good as the persons head ended up in the center of the frame which is a bad composition. What it does not fix is how to do a good composition.
As a retired photographer (not a videographer) I tell all my friends when they go on vacation (or just generally) to take their pictures and videos in an H format. This way, when they get home, they can show them on their giant TVs and (depending on the ratio format) they set they almost have 100% coverage. Taking photos and videos in a vertical format wastes so much space on your very expensive 85-inch television. Most of them heed my advice, and when they get home, they get beautiful presentation photos and videos on their televisions to share with friends.
How about using the timer, composing and snapping horizontally with both hands? Or, adding controls that make the phone ergonomically more like a camera? Or sip and puff snapping? Or, just buy a freaking camera? Phew.
There is a landscape button for selfies where you do not have to turn the phone in order to get the landscape orientation. Why can’t they a build similar button into the main cameras. This would at least allow you to hold the camera in the portrait position while taking a landscape photo or video. Seems like that would be an easy compromise.
Oh dang, I forgot about that option (the selfie one). And YES--that sounds like a simple and elegant solution to the "it's easier to shoot with one hand" problem. Unfortunately, it won't solve the "horizontal stuff looks terrible on Instagram and TikTok" problem...
Long before digital manipulation, I photographed a full moon in b/w. The second b/w photo was an extinct volcano in Briticsh Columiba called Black Tusk shot from the. My darkroom, Harry Zielke, did a composite, placeing the full moon in the Northern Sky behind the Tusk, a physical impossibility, pure dupery. I gave the map coordinates to a grooup of very senior, very well-published geological scientists and not a one of them could figure out the dupery.
Dupery happens all the time, legitimately, in the arts.It's just too bad there's a lot of crappy photographers with high end gear, including iphones. Way it goes, or as JJ Cale sang, "Any way the wind blows."
It's about time someone called out this terrible aesthetic dilemma. As another (former) TV person, I know most content looks and feels better in horizontal (landscape) mode. It's appalling to me that millions of phone-camera users have succumbed to crappy vertical shooting (I don't buy the "inconvenience" of having to hold a camera horizontally with two hands; are we talking about "convenience" or about "quality?"). In fairness, since Insta and TikTok are mostly about narcissism and personal appearance, vertical [portrait] mode scratches that ego itch for its users. But for anything else, like eyewitnessing or information sharing, landscape is much more satisfying.
I was unaware of the new AI tools on the horizon; thank you for clueing me in. I agree with you that this should not be a merely mechanical decision. It's an ethical one. Surely there must be another way?
"Grandpa... I don't remember you being at that party!?"
An interesting anecdote is that the first working television from John Logie Baird shot and displayed in Portrait. Nothing is really new, and landscape format won out because of its better versatility for storymaking. It had to win out as you could not have both ways ... then.
I'll be damned!
The examples that Apple showed in the demo of outpainting in IOS27 were not very good as the persons head ended up in the center of the frame which is a bad composition. What it does not fix is how to do a good composition.
As a retired photographer (not a videographer) I tell all my friends when they go on vacation (or just generally) to take their pictures and videos in an H format. This way, when they get home, they can show them on their giant TVs and (depending on the ratio format) they set they almost have 100% coverage. Taking photos and videos in a vertical format wastes so much space on your very expensive 85-inch television. Most of them heed my advice, and when they get home, they get beautiful presentation photos and videos on their televisions to share with friends.
Same answer as for TV: Cope with letterbox black; anything else is, as you note:
> Viewpoint 2: This is deceit.
How about using the timer, composing and snapping horizontally with both hands? Or, adding controls that make the phone ergonomically more like a camera? Or sip and puff snapping? Or, just buy a freaking camera? Phew.
There is a landscape button for selfies where you do not have to turn the phone in order to get the landscape orientation. Why can’t they a build similar button into the main cameras. This would at least allow you to hold the camera in the portrait position while taking a landscape photo or video. Seems like that would be an easy compromise.
In the Blackmagic app for IOS, they have a button for horizontal shooting with a vertical phone but this is motion only.
Oh dang, I forgot about that option (the selfie one). And YES--that sounds like a simple and elegant solution to the "it's easier to shoot with one hand" problem. Unfortunately, it won't solve the "horizontal stuff looks terrible on Instagram and TikTok" problem...
Long before digital manipulation, I photographed a full moon in b/w. The second b/w photo was an extinct volcano in Briticsh Columiba called Black Tusk shot from the. My darkroom, Harry Zielke, did a composite, placeing the full moon in the Northern Sky behind the Tusk, a physical impossibility, pure dupery. I gave the map coordinates to a grooup of very senior, very well-published geological scientists and not a one of them could figure out the dupery.
Dupery happens all the time, legitimately, in the arts.It's just too bad there's a lot of crappy photographers with high end gear, including iphones. Way it goes, or as JJ Cale sang, "Any way the wind blows."
I would do double exposures at night by putting the moon in the shot on the second exposure. I use a telephoto lens for the moon.
So shoot horizontal and make it vertical and there is no dilemma as less is more, right? What will you be doing, David?
text is another option for filling the space.
It's simply another AI feature I won't be using. The moral and aesthetic dilemmas here are real. Thanks for another great article, David.
It's about time someone called out this terrible aesthetic dilemma. As another (former) TV person, I know most content looks and feels better in horizontal (landscape) mode. It's appalling to me that millions of phone-camera users have succumbed to crappy vertical shooting (I don't buy the "inconvenience" of having to hold a camera horizontally with two hands; are we talking about "convenience" or about "quality?"). In fairness, since Insta and TikTok are mostly about narcissism and personal appearance, vertical [portrait] mode scratches that ego itch for its users. But for anything else, like eyewitnessing or information sharing, landscape is much more satisfying.
I was unaware of the new AI tools on the horizon; thank you for clueing me in. I agree with you that this should not be a merely mechanical decision. It's an ethical one. Surely there must be another way?