Hi, Never been to the Met, so I can't help you there. But you might like to consider artists such as Vermeer, Kandinsky, Bridget Riley: these are just three examples of people using a square frame picked at random from books within arm's reach of where I'm sitting. Certainly the square is less common than other rectangles, but it may be the single most commonly used aspect ratio - all the other paintings in the books I picked up seem to use different rectangles. This would be because the artist chose the shape to suit the intended composition then made up the canvas as required (or perhaps as directed by a patron), rather than going out and buying an A1 canvas or some standard dimension off the shelf.
The shape of the frame serves a purpose in composition. The square tends to be a more secure, stable and balanced composition. Symmetry is more obvious within a square, but asymmetry played against a square format can have a stronger effect because it goes against the viewer's expectations and leads to a contrast, which is one of the most important elements of visual grammar. Some subjects are well-suited to a square format. These tend to be ones where there is no strong horizontal or vertical element in the composition, such as abstracts, subjects with a static composition, and those organised around the centre. It may be that most people on this list have almost no square-cropped photos, but that by itself is not an argument against square-format; it just means we're used to looking through a 1:1.5 ratio. The fact is that looking through the viewfinder dictates a certain way of seeing. I'd think it's a good bet that people who've only ever used a square-format camera have a very much higher proportion of square-framed photos. So I don't think you've thought real hard, or said enough to make your case. --- Bob mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Saturday, December 29, 2001, 3:27:35 AM, you wrote: > Everyone think real hard. Out of yur best 100 all-time photographs, how > many have you cropped to a square? What proportion of paintings in the > Met are square? Enough said. > Paul - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
