I took a trip to Guildford Cathedral to complete this series of photographs. The cathedral is a wonderful place to visit, and probably the most bright and light cathedral I have ever visited. Its architecture is wonderful!
I was set the task of taking two sets of shots in vertical and horizontal frames to see how using the two would affect my photographs, and to prove that most scenes can work vertically if you take time in composing them. The results may or may not be more successful than the ones taken horizontally, but it helps to break the habit of always taking them in this frame orientation.
I have posted the vertical framed photos first:
And the horizontal images here:
I fear that as the architecture of the cathedral is extremely symmetrical this may have affected the way I composed my shots, causing me to set the subjects traditionally within the frame preserving the symmetry, and compromising the types of angles I used for the shots. Despite this, I can see from the two sets of images that both work well in their own rights. The vertical framed ones emphasise the height of the cathedral and its windows, yet occasionally the horizontal shots seem to frame one or two better by expanding the field of view, making the photos feel less narrow and claustrophobic. Photos where the subject was not about the symmetry or height of the subject worked in both orientations (for example the eagle and the gold birds), and surprisingly I preferred most of the vertical shots as they made the image more dramatic, because the frame was not chosen as you would expect, and the subject filled more of it dominating the scene. They also made the image seem much closer to the front of the frame, even though they were taken from the exact same spot.
It would be useful to remember that even though framing a photograph is easily done horizontally, by taking the time to compose it vertically can produce a much more original result and feel to your subject. Trying to shake of the habit of taking photos horizontally will help to create very dramatic images and emphasize areas of the subject that may have been missed from the feel of the image before, such as its shape, size or height, or how close it feels to the viewer.
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