Hey Tom, thanks for the shout out. I just got sent the link for this today and I just wanted to let you know that it's awesome that you mentioned me. Really motivates me to continue shooting!
Thanks Tom, packed with tips, yet clear and concise. Must practise and internalise the tips. I need to stop,.. look around and avoid a 19th nervous breakdown! As other commenter has suggested, apart from taking out my recently-purchased Yashica, I'll set my Fuji's view to 1:1 on occasion.
I can't believe you just ignore us 4x4 127 rollfilm users...all three of us. Just kidding. I enjoyed the video and the tips/advice gave me some things to consider. While I shoot some 120 in 6x6, I shoot a lot more 127 in 4x4. Everything in the video seems just as valid to me. Cheers
Tom - I purchased a Mamiya 6x6 in search of a different perspective than 35mm or rectangular composition. After purchasing I watched a number of youtube videos on composing an image in this format, however this video really stuck with me. The insight provided by your call and response with other photographers, has influenced how I see things, especially when composing a shot or shooting in general. Love what you're doing and thank you for this again!
Excellent tips … ta very much! I’ve recently embraced the square format for my B&W landscapes using the Fuji X100V. The layers technique is really powerful rendering an immersive, almost 3D experience … amazing. Now I think I should try shooting with 1:1 in the viewfinder instead of cropping afterward. At least if I don’t get it right straight out of the camera, there’s still the raw 3:2 to work with. Great video … looking forward to checking out more of your content.
Tom, Great Video! Love your tips on Square Composition. I Shot with a Hasselblad for over 30 years, this video has motivated me to go out and shoot square again. I will be using my Nikon Z6 set to 1:1 format, with the LCD panel parallel to the ground. This will allow me to view the image in live view at waste level. Tom, Thanks again for the Tips and Inspiration.
I started using a 500 C/M since the late seventies. Just because it is a 6x6, I didn't always compose images in 6x6 but cropped to portrait or landscape. Hence, I DIY grids on my VF screen using artist transparent tapes. Not to mention one of the advantages of using a 6x6 is no need to rotate the camera for portrait or landscape composition.
Such an excellent video, Tom! Thank you! A Kiev 60 just fell into my hands... a friend of a friend just gave it to me (or perhaps heaven just arranged a drop my way). Just dropped my first roll, so we'll see if it works!
@@Tom-Humble Thanks so much! It's funny you say that, because I love your instagram and just discovered your RU-vid channel. I'm going to have a lot of fun this week going through your back catalog. Keep up the great work!
Shoot first, trim later, or like me, don't. I print in the darkroom on 10x8 inch paper. I trim a piece off to use as a test exposure strip. I use a 1957 Yashica Mat with a 75mm 3.5 Lumaxar lens. Tri x and Rodinal 1 to 50. Schneider Componar S 100mm f5. 6 lens on a 1950s Gnome condenser enlarger. Old school my man, still doing it at the age of 75. Great Video my friend. I am in Stroud UK, would be good to meet up.
I've been thinking square for several years now. I found that going back over my many rectangular photos, quite a few were easily converted to square because the rectangular photos had unnecessary elements. Photography is about eliminating the unnecessary whereas painting is about adding the necessary.
Man, this must be fate, literally. I got into Polaroid photography this summer and I am looking for tipps, tricks and hints to grow and get better and just shoot better photos. My main issues are the square format indeed, and the very limited settings of a Polaroids camera. So your video is exactly what I was looking for and you uploaded it just today! How funny is this!? :D I wish you had more videos like this one here, because it is so very helpful for me, thanks a ton! Great job! Thanks! =)
It is funny I have shot medium format for decades with my Mamiya RB67 in my portrait studio. Retired and gave the Mamiya to a student. Bought a Hasselblad 503 and thought I would be leaving enough room on the negative to crop the typical 8x10 format I was so used to. Now i tend to compose in tighter and print square .Don't know why the change it just happened that way after shooting the 6x6 negatives.
There’s just something about shooting and viewing 6x6 format images that I can’t explain. For me it feels nostalgic but creative at the same time. It also takes away the distraction of whether or not to shoot portrait or landscape orientation.
I shoot 6x6 in medium format, however, for landscapes, I find the landscape to be more desirable for print when they are close in aspect ratio to 35mm.. It seems cropping a 6x6 to this aspect ratio creates a 6x4.5 image (645). I am actually Looking to move into 6x7, it’s better for landscape in my opinion.
I use a crop sensor camera (nikon d3100) so its a rectangular shape sensor and i wanna replicate the 6x6 medium format camera and its 65mm lens. Would cropping my images into square change my photo's focal lengths?
I would say that the most important tip is to really, and I mean really look at your scene before deciding to take a photo. Why do I say this? Because most square (film) format cameras have a horizontally inverted image on the ground glass. It is just way too easy to get caught up dialling in settings and staring into the ground glass when in reality you should be spending less time looking at the camera and more time just looking up.
As much as I hate square format, it's amazing that I actually used it for several years for wedding photography. You of course will generally always crop for a rectangular print which means wasted space. I think I'd would have much rather preferred a 6x7 format instead.
