Because cameras are designed for the greatest comfort when held in a horizontal orientation, the vast majority of photos are horizontal. That's fine for landscapes, groups of people, or a line of small buildings along a village street.

But many subjects lend themselves to vertical framing. For example, when taking a photo of a tall statue, one or two people or a grasshopper on a tall weed, it's worth flipping the camera onto its side.

Photo Caption: Shooting a vertical photo of tall subjects provides a frame-filling image, eliminating distracting elements. While you can crop a horizontal photo into a vertical, as I did for this example, that eliminates millions of pixels (roughly 50% in this case), significantly reducing resolution. (2010 Peter K. Burian)

By using the so-called "portrait" format, you can often eliminate distracting elements surrounding a tall subject, such as Toronto's CN Tower or your daughter posing in your backyard before the prom. Vertical framing can also help avoid empty space or blank sky around such subjects.

Sure, you could shoot a horizontal photo and later crop out the problem areas with image editing software, but that would mean discarding millions of pixels. Shoot a vertical instead and the image will retain the maximum resolution your camera can provide.

Whenever a scene looks fine in both formats, shoot a horizontal and a vertical. You can later decide which is best while viewing the images on your computer monitor. Sometimes, both photos will be effective, but each will provide a different impression of the same subject.

No matter what type of photography you enjoy, it's well worth consciously forcing yourself to shoot more verticals. Buildings, mountains, lighthouses, head-and-shoulder portraits, flowers and trees are all vertical in nature. Even with other subject types, try some imagination and make a few vertical frames as well. More "active" than "passive" horizontal, these may very well become your favourites from any outing. My own stock portfolio now consists of 50% vertical frames, confirming that such composition can be suitable for the majority of subject types.

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