The vertical touch!

Foreword: It is true to say that I have a special commitment with "vertical" framing since my early 35mm analog photography times. I always found the "portrait" way of taking picture more dramatic, more incisive of the subject. Even with a traditional panoramic perspective in view, the question if the "vertical" should be a better picture rendering is always part in my mind.

It may be a cinematographic bias to have the habit to see our surrounding world into a panoramic view, i.e., horizontally framed. And we have a tendency to privilege "vertical" framing mainly for a portrait type composition. But selecting an "upper side" view as context photography is rarer to do and to share. Even doing systematically for a photo project with vertical frames can be difficult to present in terms of continuity or acceptability.

Explore the height is not a usual eye reflex except for some specific subjects like humans or urban buildings. But most of the time our view will be directed to a horizontal search or a panoramic scan. It can be a kind of ancestral behavior that has been implanted for survival purposes. Looking at the sky has been associated to the dreamers, the mystics or the oddly curious ones. Activities like writing for westerners is a highly horizontal exercise although some people are very good in diagonal paper reading!

What didn't really help those who are tempted to do vertical framing is the fact that many camera models are much more designed for a panoramic view. In the past we have seen specific cameras that privilege a vertical view but today those curiosities are sparse to find. So, doing vertical framing will ask you to perform some adaptations in the way you are taking pictures with your camera, especially holding it and interact with its interface. Some camera models will be more adaptable with the addition of an optional "vertical" grip although the combination camera/grip will be bulkier and heavier (and more noticeable from the subject!). In a common rule, we can observe that the compact cameras are easier for doing vertical framing (in flipping them on the spot) than the bigger cameras.

Subjects that can be vertical. I cannot no special limitation to select a vertical framing of a subject even-though that many teaching photographers would tell you the contrary especially for projects like landscapes and panoramic view attempts.

Subjects to explore vertically. All subjects can be vertically interpreted although some are more usually done like portrait, fashion, action close-up, etc. Some like urban architectures are now well represented and some others like landscapes have a less propension to be treated in the "upper" way. The question for the photographer is to ask herself/himself if it will be not interesting to try it.

Vertical contexts. Are there pictures taking situations more suited to a vertical view? Probably not because at the end it is only a photographer personal iconographic interpretation. It can be done in many ways during the photo taking session as for the post-treatment of the picture selected.

Vertical fragmentations. We already know and appreciate the work and the result of assembled pictures to get a panoramic view of the subject. The subject by itself may be decomposed in different part illustrated by a picture assembly. The same can be done vertically although it seems odd from the start, but the experimentation should conduct us to better understand the intrinsic nomenclature of a subject and its context and surrounding.

Reframing in post-edition. A vertical lecture of a horizontal picture is another option that a photographer may choose after a photo session. This was very popular during the analog photography era especially in using a square frame medium format camera. With a larger negative the drop-off image quality was staying on the minimal side. In fact, cropping a recorded image afterward will force you facing with some kind of picture resolution and definition lost that may result in a none-suitable final presentation for your taste. With high resolution digital sensors that phenomena will be less perceptible if not almost negligible.

Preferring a vertical (rectangular) framing for your image is, at the end, a personal creative choice. It can be more likely a photo taking bias insuring that way a stronger vertical interpretation of your subject on the spot and it assure you an optimum quality image recording. By pivoting our natural way of eye scanning the context and the detail of a subject, it destabilizes the looker and force him/her to pay a different attention to the picture with less filtering bias. It may be the reason that we are now seeing more and more vertical photos alongside with the smartphone popularity. It may the future standard, who knows?