White Canvas

I’ve been wanting to write an updated e-book about aspect ratios for some time.

Last year I put together a rough outline of the points I wish to cover in the new e-book, but I simply ran out of free time to work on it.

This week I began work on the new e-book and I’m now grateful I had a delay in writing it. Sometimes, I think that delays allow me to let an idea simmer in the back of my mind. I often gain more clarity about the points I wish to cover, and how best to go about conveying them.

I think the title for the new e-book once finished may be ‘White Canvas’.

The more I think about aspect ratios, the more I am convinced that we should avoid rules when composing. Instead, what we should learn about, is the deficiencies of the human visual cortex when working with different ratios. If you can understand what is going on there, then it may help you understand how to work with certain ratios more easily, and what practices you need to employ to get the most out of all the ratios that we commonly use.

I hope to include some exercises in the e-book. Our eye tends to be rather lazy, often heading towards the central area of the frame. It takes some practice, and effort to learn to walk the edges of the frame, and to visualise the entirety of the scene in the mind’s eye.