Photography Portrait or Landscape
Created | Updated Mar 9, 2020
Photography
Portrait or Landscape
There appears that there is some confusion about the two photograph formats Portrate and landscape, and this short entry is an attempt to clarfy the terms.
Both terms were borne way back in history by the artists in thair studios in Europe.
PORTRAIT
In the yeas before the photograph if you wanted a picture of your loved one you hired an artist to paint a picture "A PORTRAIT"!
Canvas was expensive so most were depicted from the waist up, so the finished work of art was higher than it was wider, or similar to a sheet of A5 paper of today.
LANDSCAPE
For those who had more money and wanted a view of thair 1000 acre or a senic view of the world, the choice was for a painting wider than higher, simply to get as much of the view on the canvas.
Portrait or Landscape
There appears that there is some confusion about the two photograph formats Portrait and landscape, and this short entry is an attempt to clarify the terms.
Both terms were borne way back in history by the artists in their studios in Europe.
Canvas was expensive so most were depicted from the waist up, so the finished work of art was higher than it was wider, or similar to a sheet of A5 paper of today.
PORTRAIT
In the years before the photograph if you wanted a picture of your loved one you hired an artist to paint a picture "A PORTRAIT"!
LANDSCAPE
For those who had more money and wanted a view of thair 1000 acres or just a scenic view of the world. The horizontal canvas was the choice for this panoramic type painting, wider than higher, simply to get as much of the view on the canvas, and as the subject was mainly the great outdoors, the wide view horizontal format was named the "Landscape".
So this is an explanation of the origin of the terms that have been adopted by photographers of today. This is an explanation of classification the 2 most popular photography formats ever, the landscape and the portrait.
Portrait or Landscape
There appears that there is some confusion about the two photograph formats Portrate and landscape, and this short entry is an attempt to clarfy the terms.
Both terms were borne way back in history by the artists in thair studios in Europe.
PORTRAIT
In the yeas before the photograph if you wanted a picture of your loved one you hired an artist to paint a picture "A PORTRAIT"!
Canvas was expensive so most were depicted from the waist up, so the finished work of art was higher than it was wider, or similar to a sheet of A5 paper of today.
LANDSCAPE
For those who had more money and wanted a view of thair 1000 acre or a senic view of the world, the choice was for a painting wider than higher, simply to get as much of the view on the canvas.
Portrait or Landscape
There appears that there is some confusion about the two photograph formats Portrait and landscape, and this short entry is an attempt to clarify the terms.
Both terms were borne way back in history by the artists in their studios in Europe.
Canvas was expensive so most were depicted from the waist up, so the finished work of art was higher than it was wider, or similar to a sheet of A5 paper of today.
PORTRAIT
In the years before the photograph if you wanted a picture of your loved one you hired an artist to paint a picture "A PORTRAIT"!
LANDSCAPE
For those who had more money and wanted a view of thair 1000 acres or just a scenic view of the world. The horizontal canvas was the choice for this panoramic type painting, wider than higher, simply to get as much of the view on the canvas, and as the subject was mainly the great outdoors, the wide view horizontal format was named the "Landscape".
So this is an explanation of the origin of the terms that have been adopted by photographers of today. This is an explanation of classification the 2 most popular photography formats ever, the landscape and the portrait.
