Do you know your aspect ratios?

I hear many photographers who are confused by the aspect ratio of their pictures. Aspect ratio is the relationship of the long side of the picture to the short side. It has nothing with size, just the shape of the picture outline.

There are two aspect ratios that matter:
The camera aspect ratio
The output aspect ratio

Compact cameras and 4/3rds DSLRs (Typically Olympus and Panasonic) usually take pictures in a 3 by 4 aspect ratio. This ratio is ideal if you are going to print at 8x10, 8.5x11, or 11x14. Only a little cropping of the long end is necessary. The problem is when you want to print 4x6 prints. You will need to crop a pretty good chunk off the top or bottom (or both).

Other DSLRs, as well as 35mm film cameras, use a 2 by 3 aspect ratio. This is perfect for printing 4X6 prints without having to crop. But if you want to print at 8x10 or 11x14, you are going to really have to whack the long end to make it fit.

For the web it’s usually no big deal. A common size is 800 pixels by 600 pixels. This is native for a compact camera but a 2x3 is 800 by 533.

The point is to know the aspect ratio of your camera and think about your possible output when you take a picture. If you have a Canon DSLR and take a picture that you want to print at 11x14, don’t frame the picture so tightly that you can’t crop the long end to make it fit. Or if you are shooting with a compact camera and normally print at 4x6, be sure you leave crop room at the top and bottom.

Muskogee Azalea Festival

Denise from my Photography Meetup Group and I went to the Azalea Festival yesterday. We met Bing and Tuan. The Azaleas weren't as good as some past years but we had a great time. We even found a mini waterfall.

We got there early and it was not too busy. We shot all morning, then went to eat Mexican and when we got back it was PACKED.

Digital Photography Meetup Group PhotoWalk

Our meetup group had a photowalk Saturday. I had a lot of fun even though it was cold and windy. The model was very cold and really didn't get into it until the very end when we did some ballet stuff (her passion).

Product Shots

Rachel's husband Tommie makes coils for tattoo guns in his spare time. He hand winds the coils, turns the end caps, and in this case, used Chinese money as decoration. Pretty cool.

I've been wanting to do some product shots, so I volunteered to take pictures of these coils. I used my new 100mm f2.8 macro lens, and my new off camera strobe on a separate light stand. The strobe did not work reliably. I definately have some work to do with them. I'm not too happy with the result but I guess it's not too bad for a first effort. More later.

New Photo Gallery Site

I have a new Photo Gallery site at www.spiveyphoto.com

It's pretty much a work in progress but I will be able to post larger pictures and I think it looks better than pBase. I still have my old pictues at www.pbase.com/lefturn99

Southwest Street Rod Nationals 2008 Oklahoma City

I went to the Southwest Street Rod Nationals in Oklahoma City Saturday. Saw some great cars. It was hard to get any great pictures because of the crowds, but I took a few.