Most photographers start with rectangular formats and never go beyond that. The biggest problem with these formats is their unbalanced nature. As a result, you see many poorly framed images with a lot of unnecessary visual noise on both sides of the frame. Therefore, when I teach students composition I often urge them to start with the square format. Not only it is perfectly balanced but it also helps to simplify your seeing. With much more limited real-estate, the photographer is forced to limit the number of elements within the frame and sometimes make hard choices! This results in cleaner imagery, a stronger message and more pleasing visuals.
We have recently been playing with a brand-new Fujifilm Instax Square SQ10 and what a refreshing change it has been! We found the design and simplicity of the camera so appealing. We like the fact that you can choose images before you print them. The controls are all that you need, without the unnecessary clutter so common in today’s cameras. Even the naming of the functions is brilliant – for example the EV is called brightness! Simple and to the point! Are you laughing? You shouldn’t be. Shooting with the Instax Square, printing your images and analyzing your seeing while holding the actual print in your hands will help you to see much faster than hoarding thousands of images on your hard drive.
Stay tuned for a full review of the Fujifilm Instax Square SQ10 camera.
Let’s go berserk with the SQUARE! Here are the photos in the square format from our recent trip to San Francisco, all shot with the X100F.
…and truly yours at work as captured by Kasia
2017 © Olafphoto. All rights reserved.
Olaf… I am strongly considering a switch to lighter gear for street photography. Two of you above photos caught my eye in particular. Is there an infrared setting on the x100F? (Photos 2 & 4) and is there a setting that allowed you to capture the last photo (the one with heavy noise?).
Nice!!
Thanks!
D-