Square: Digital Photographer’s Guide to the Square Format eBook Review

Photography Tips

Square eBook

Square: The digital photographer’s guide to the square format by Andrew S. Gibson was released today and delves deep into the mysteries of the square format. It explores the square format from the digital photographer’s perspective. It shows you how to use the square format on your camera, and how to make the most out of what I think of as the fine art photographer’s format.

Found here: Square

Square format photos have a powerful element of design to them. Shapes, and the negative space around them, become more prominent. You can simplify composition almost to the point of abstraction. Furthermore, square prints look good on the wall. It’s a format suited to photographers that want to produce art.

Any ebook of this nature needs a few post-processing tutorials to provide you with the techniques you need to put the ideas in the ebook into action. Gibson has provided some very useful post-processing tutorials at the end as appendixes showing users how to take full advantage of this format in the most common photo editing programs.

Topics Covered (52 Pages):

• Introduction
• The History of the Square Format
• Going square (three ways to create square format images)
• Square Subjects
• The 35mm problem
• Cropping Square
• Design & Balance
• Shape

Pages and Images from Square

• The Four S’s (shape, simplicity, space, and subtlety)
• Black & White
• Case Study: Matt Toynbee techniques
• Vertoramas
• A Creative Edge
• Framing
• Creative Layout
• Diptyches & Triptyches
• Instagram
• Holga Lenses
• Case Study: Flavia Schaller techniques
• Conclusion
• Appendix A: Cropping techniques in various programs
• Appendix B: Vertorama tutorial
• Appendix C: Black border tutorial

Gibson says, “I hope this ebook inspires you to try the square format, and to think more about the process of composition and image making as you do so. Whichever aspect ratio you use for the majority of your photos, the exercise provided within will help improve your eye for composition and subject.”

Example Page from Square

Found here: Square