Who are the masters of square composition?

ProfessorC1983

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I'd like to get better at composing images in square format. Whose images should I be studying? Or put more precisely: what photographers in your opinion took the best advantage (regardless of school/movement) of the unique visual properties of the square aspect ratio?
 

dpurdy

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Well of course Irving Penn but more current is Micheal Kenna. The interesting thing about his work, to me, and I own several of his books, is that he very subtly makes some of his images un-square. It is slight and you more feel it than see it. By comparison to his very square images the slightly off square images feel more directional in composition.
 

Valerie

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Keith Carter.
Michael Kenna
Vivien Maier
 

Grim Tuesday

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Irving Penn is my favorite photographer. I visited the San Diego Museum of Photography a few years ago and they had a show of his work. The pictures are of course, phenomenal and the prints he and his assistants made are truly amazing. Worth seeking out to see in person.
 

Wayne

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I think squares are easiest of all to compose. Don't center your subject and keep a feeling of balance between sides. The problem, if you see it as a problem and some do, is that the result is still a square.
 

Alan9940

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Michael Kenna and for a photographer who may not be well known--Austin Granger. He posts on the LFPF.
 

Wayne

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Austin is excellent, but I think his skills go well beyond mere "composition". Composition isn't terribly hard, making photographs with impact is. One does not guarantee the other.
 

radiant

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kennethwajda said:
I find squares easy to compose. I just think of it like shooting a record album cover.
Click to expand...

I agree, it is more easier for me than other format. Most difficult is 6x7 - it is like almost square, but not really.
 

gone

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The compositional rules for photography are the same as with any 2 dimensional art form. You might take a moment to look them up and see how it works for you. There's only so much you can learn from looking at other people's work though. Like most things in life, it comes down to the old Carnegie Hall joke.....practice, practice, practice.

There's probably more to be learned from studying the compositional rules for paintings, even though most of them are about using different colours. For instance, putting a person or other living being in your picture means the viewer will first focus on that, and then the rest of the work. We're configured this way by nature. We're also attracted to high contrast, and our eyes will go to the area of the photo that has the most of it, so don't place that in a corner of the photo. After you've done this a while and know what you're doing, then you can break the rules.

Wouldn't hurt to take a class or workshop (these things are fun!) w/ someone who knows their stuff. When I was starting out as a painter, I had a large nude painting in progress on my easel when my friend and mentor stopped by the studio. Before he even entered the space he saw the painting and said "Her feet are too small". And they were. Hands and feet are really hard to get right. Sure, sooner or later I would have figured that out, but his comment saved me from continually making the same mistake over and over until I did.
 
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Alex Benjamin

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Diane Arbus.

A lot of Avedon's fashion photography was done in square format.
 
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