In the UK, we have this expression: “you can’t have your cake, and eat it” It means - you can’t always have everything.

Today I got an email about my forthcoming Aspect Ratios ebook. The email was concerned with the idea that keeping one’s work to a certain aspect ratio, so that their work is ‘consistent’ when it’s laid out, may be done at the expense of the individual image. This is true.

I appreciate that my friend who wrote to me, was really working through the dilemma by putting his thoughts down on an email to me.

His dilemma of whether to scrap images that don’t conform to a given ratio really boils down to accepting that everything in photography is a compromise. With every compromise, you gain and you lose at the same time.

For myself, I currently hold the view that I’d much rather sacrifice individual images if they do not conform to the aspect ratio of choice that I’m working in. I personally dislike portfolios where the work is all different shapes and sizes.

I realise this is rather extreme, but I have learned that when I come to lay images out, they simply don’t make the final selection if they jar in some way. For me, aspect ratios have to be consistent in the portfolio.

But that’s just me, and I would not for one second assume you should agree with me. It is simply something that I have decided is important to me, and you need to form your own opinion about what’s important for you.

You may even find that for one portfolio, aspect ratios are not so important, or perhaps even a feature. Another portfolio may require a different approach. The upshot is, that there are really no rules, just what you think is important at the time of you creating and presenting the work. You are even entitled to change your mind at a later date, as I often do.

For me right now though, I’ve found particular strength in portfolios than the individual image. I think they help promote the style of work I do, but also, the consistency of the aspect ratio helps me lay out the work in a format that I think contributes to the style.