OCA - TAOP - Exercise 13

Exercise 13, Vertical & Horizontal Frames,


The aim of this exercise was to take shots framed both horizontally and vertically to see if I could make subjects work in both formats and whether the subject would favour one more than the other. I went out with the intention of capturing a variety of subjects, with the same shot taken twice, one horizontally and one vertically so I could clearly see the differences and compare them easily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed over the course of this exercise that you can make most subjects work within either a horizonatal or vertical frame, however certain subjects naturally fit one or the other. For example, subjects with significant height or little width such as people, tall buildings, or statues naturally fit a vertical frame. Whereas subjects with significant width or little height such as wide buildings, landscapes or large groups of people will naturally fit a horizontal frame. This gives a rather simple rule of thumb to follow that will, on large, give aesthetically pleasing shots.

However, this rule can very easily be broken as seen above to provide some interesting results as most subjects can work in both types of frame. For example, the first pair in this exercise with a church converted into monochrome - the vertical frame gives a sense of height to the church steeple and cross monument in the foreground, placing alot of emphasis on their height as there is little else to distract you in the shot. However, on the other hand the horizontal frame in my opinion does not give the steeple or the monument as much of a sense of height. Instead, due to more of the church being captured, to me it gives a greater sense of depth as you can make out the outline of one of the wings attached to the steeple behind the tree on the right.

To take a second example, the cross monument in pair 14 - the vertical frame places emphasis on the height of the monument with no other distractions in the frame, all of the attention is placed solely on the monument. However the horizontal frame adds gravestones to the edges of the frame in the background to provide context to the monument, adding a story to the monument. It is now no longer just a monument shaped like a cross, it is a monument in a graveyard in remembrance of those who have passed away, which it actually is - it is a tribute to fallen soldiers.