Tuesday 26 June 2012

Do you shoot in "Portrait" format? You should . . .

Are you a photographer loathe to turn their camera on its side to take a vertical (Portrait) format shot?

If you are, let me tell you a little story.

On my last trip to Bali, I got up one morning before sunrise and rattled off a few dozen shots of Sanur Beach. The light was fantastic, scenery sublime (Gunung Agung, so often hidden behind clouds in the early mornings was this day clearly visible in the distance), and I managed some beautiful shots.
I was just about to go back to the hotel for breakfast when a thought occured: "I've shot everything in Landscape format".
I hurriedly grabbed four shots in Portrait format, making sure there was "copy space" at the top of each image, just in case one was ever chosen as a book or magazine cover . . .
. . . and this week, one of those four Portrait shots with copyspace was licensed by Lonely Planet for a book front cover. That's $600 that would never have found its way into my pocket had I not remembered "Portrait and CopySpace".

soon to be seen on a Lonely Planet Guide cover
 
 Come to think of it, my highest grossing image was also taken in Bali . . . and was also shot in Portrait format.

Used in an advertising campaign for a Balinese Hotel

I do always take vertical shots wherever possible. For example: 

My last two batches of travel images with Getty were taken in Vietnam and Hawaii. 
Nearly half of the images from Hawaii are in Portrait format, as are 60% of those from Vietnam.

And 45% of the images I've had licensed via Getty are in vertical (Portrait) format.

There, it's not really a secret anymore . . . just keep it to yourself, okay?