by Photography is a skill that can come naturally to you if you are already aware of the different technicalities that affect your photography. One thing that you have to take care of and know about is the aspect ratio.
But you don’t have to worry about understating the aspect ratio as it is extremely easy to understand. If we were to describe it in simple words, it is the relationship ratio between the height and width of the photo that you are capturing from your camera.
If you are new in the area of photography, we are sure that understanding the aspect ratio of the image will give quite an edge to how your photographs turn out. All you have to do is get a good understanding of it, test different aspect ratios, and start capturing an image in suitable ones.
That’s not just it; there is yet much more to learn about aspect ratio and rest assured that you will learn everything you need to know about it in this article.
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What is the aspect ratio?
The aspect ratio of the image is usually described by 1:1, 4:3, 16:9, etc. And both of these mean the height and width of the photograph. You can easily figure out the aspect ratio by competing for both these numbers with the different heights and widths of the photograph.
With promotional numbers, you can easily figure out the size of the image. Some photographers also like to have an image ratio that is in decimal points, such as 1.50:1. Here, the 1:50 can be the height or the width of the photograph.
You might be wondering how it affects the image and why it matters. Let us tell you that aspect ratio is not about the physical size of the image, but it is about the pixels and their dimensions in the photo.
The type of image or video and, for some reason, the purpose of the image being captured from your camera decides the correct aspect ratio that you have to choose.
For example, TVs have an aspect ratio of 16:9, and for Instagram images, you can understand that it has an aspect ratio of 1:1.
Why is the aspect ratio important?
Understanding and putting the aspect ratio of the image is very important, and it all depends on the kind of photography or videography that you are doing.
It is quite important at the time you are capturing the image because there is no way you can alter the aspect ratio after you have captured the image without altering the actual image getting cropped.
For example, if you have captured an image in 4:3 and you make the aspect ratio 1:1 after the image is captured, you will be removing a large part of the photograph or video. It is basically saying that the aspect ratio decides how your image turns out.
You have to figure out the type of photography that you are doing, and after that, you can easily figure out the aspect ratio so that you can capture the image. For example, you can not do effective landscape photography with an aspect ratio of 1:1. It is ideal for social media, but it is not ideal for professional photography.
There are many reasons the aspect ratio that you decide to click on is quite important. For whatever you want to capture, for whatever kind of photography that you are doing, you will have to decide on the aspect ratio that works out best for the subject that you are capturing.
There are some most common aspect ratios and different uses for them in different types of photography,
The first one among them is the 1:1 ratio, which is mostly preferred when you are capturing an image to upload on social media.
There is also a 16:9 ratio which I find most suitable when you are trying to capture video films or landscapes.
The most common and frequently used aspect ratios are usually 5:4 and 4:3, which are pretty standard and used by almost everybody.
How can you set the aspect ratio in your camera?
It is all dependent on the type of camera that you have. If there is no option given in your camera that lets you adjust the aspect ratio, you will have to do with capturing the image that you can alter as per your desired aspect ratio.
If you have the option to manage the aspect ratio of the photograph, you can directly do that. Most cameras let you choose the ratio when you are clicking the images in RAW mode.
If you are not sure which aspect ratio is suitable for the scene or subject that you are trying to capture, you can easily switch between different ratios before deciding on one.
Apart from that, you can go to the setting and decide to crop the images if it deems fit according to your requirement and cut the image in the aspect ratio that you wanted in the first place, but to simplify for you, let us just say that aspect ratio in the image is basically differentiation between square and rectangle.
If you want a rectangle image (aspect ratio of 16:9), you should never capture images that are in a square (aspect ratio of 1:1)
Final thoughts
Aspect ratios in images are quite the big deal, if you have captured your videos and images in the proper size, you will always be doing justice to the image that you have captured, but if you fail to do so, we are sure that it will ruin your image and render it unusable.
You will always have to switch between the aspect ratio depending on the type of image that you want to be captured, and like we already said, the purpose of why you are capturing the image plays a big role too.
We hope this article makes you understand almost everything you need to know about aspect ratios and how you can use them to help capture images in the perfect size. Remember, aspect ratio matters, and it enhances what you have captured if you have captured it in the right size.
