A quick quote from something I just wrote on my blog:
Any editor will tell you that there are times that a photographer needs to hit a specific shape, especially in a scenario where the photo is coming in on deadline. But such pre-planning should be the last resort. Editors of the world, you are lowering the quality of your photo report every time you give a photographer a shape to shoot to. You cannot accurately predict the shape of the best photograph and when a photographer is limited to a specific shape, he/she will not be able to do his/her best work.
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. Regardless of my comparison, it’s sweet.
Seconded and I’ll add an amen!
I have found so many times that when this has happened the word editor doing the layout has had little or no graphic design background — and/or is lazy. Decades ago at a Florida paper the sports editor would do the layout after the 4p meeting when it was decided how many stories would be on the section front and how the lead story would be played. He had a stash of layouts in a folder — 5 stories would have a horizontal photo or 2 verticals; 6 stories a lead vertical and a small horizontal. Whichever layout he would use resulted in the photo hole for the photographer shooting that night. It didn’t matter what was the best picture, it was what fit the hole. I compromised with him on occassion to give me a 4-column square including caption. I would then fill it with a large horizontal with the caption underneath; a 3-column vertical with the caption on the side; a 2-column vertical and 2-column square; etc. That way I could choose how to play the best photo plus a supplemental.
Yeah, the square trick works good and then you can go with just about any shape of photo in the layout. We used to use that all the time. I miss it!
Trent. You should be an editor. You would be great.
Also, lets not forget that the eye gouge photo was buried deep inside of the sports section at around 3 columns wide. The double truck in ESPN was great, though.
Nice write up, Trent.
I refuse to ever crop a photo in “ratios” or “ideal sizes.” Never have, never will.
A great photographer once told me, “…photographs are like snow flakes, each are different sizes and shapes according to content in the photo; don’t be constricted to certain sizes and shapes.”
And, multiple Pulitzer winning photojournalist told me also, “If I walked into a gallery, art show and every photo was the same shape and size, I’d be bored to death. Vary your crops according to content. Keep viewers engaged. Make them look at every photo.”