Portrait Photography

USING ASPECT RATIO TO CROP

Theaspectratioisa2-figurevalue,commonlywrittenas

x:y,determinedbytheheightandwidthrelationshipofan

image.Oneofthemostcommonaspectratiosindigital

photographyisthe3:2ratio,butthereareothers:1:1,2:3,

3:4,4:5,5:7,and9:16.Imagesizeswithinthe3:2ratioare

6 × 4 inches, 12 × 8 inches, 24 × 16 inchesandsoon.

Whateverthesizeoftheimagethevalueswillstillremain

proportional to each other.

All square images have the aspect ratio of 1:1 (both

height and widthare equal).A common panoramicor

letterboxaspectratioisthe3:1ratio,andcanbecreated

inCameraRAWthroughthecustomsettinginthecrop

tool.ThegoldenratioreferredtoChapter 6 hasthevalue

1.618:1.

When cropping an image in Camera RAW the

photographerhastheabilitytodosobyusingtheaspect

ratioratherthananactualcroptosize.Thismethodwill

enable the photographerat a later stage to crop the

imagetovaryingsizeswithinthechosenaspectratioas

all pixel information will be retained.

Asharpening settingthat canbe very successful with a
close-upheadshotwillnotachievethesamequalityona
largerfamilygrouping.Forcloserportraiture,theAmount
canvaryfrom 35 to70,Radiusisaroundthe1–1.2mark,
Detailshouldbe intheregionof20,and Maskingagain
shouldbearound70.Theselevelswillgivealovelysharp