Square

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A little while ago I greatly enjoyed a new eBook, “Beyond Thirds”, written by Andrew S Gibson. I inhaled the knowledge in this eBook as quickly as I could; it was packed with information. Even more importantly, thanks to the fantastic photos filling the pages, it was packed with inspiration. Andrew is quickly becoming one of my favorite photo book authors, and I was very happy when I was told already has another eBook coming out. This is the great thing about the proliferation of eBooks; they allow great information to become available so quickly and so affordably. As someone who has spent $500+ a class on many different university courses in photography and design, take it from me. You can not get better bang for your dollar than books like these when it comes to expanding your photographic ability. But let’s get back to what has very excited.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you “Square”, by Andrew S Gibson. This eBook is the perfect follow up to “Beyond Thirds”, and it covers a subject I rarely see addressed. It’s all about using the square format in your photos; an incredible and often overlooked option. With todays world you need every advantage you can get to differentiate your photos from other photographers. Shooting square images may just give you that leg up you need to get your work really noticed in your community. A well composed square image simply stands out.
Generally, when I hang a collection of photos I incorporate several square 8x8 images, they work nicely amongst 8x10s, 5x7s and 20x30s. However, I admit, I usually just find images I have taken and composed in the typical aspect ratio provided by my DSLR (3:2). But after reading “Square”, I have the knowledge in the back of my head to compose images with the square format in mind (plus I can always refer back to Andrew’s great images for inspiration). I can see this being fantastic for my travel photography, and perhaps even shoots I do on location locally. I’m so happy that I have added the information from “Square” to my toolkit, and I cannot recommend strongly enough that you do the same.
Andrew starts with a brief history lesson on the square format and quickly moves into your options for shooting square. He lists what looks best in the square format, a list I completely agree with, and then he moves onto a section called the 35mm problem. After addressing what causes problems in many photos that are left uncropped, he shows you some of his own square work. Don’t get me wrong, these images would be very good right out of camera. But cropped square, they are fantastic. Andrew goes on to talk about design, balance, shape, and even black and white in relation to composition. He addresses how to make creative layouts with square images, and even gets into diptyches and triptyches. I haven’t heard those words since my first year of design school; but frankly, you need to. Laying photos out this way provides some fantastic options. The eBook doesn’t end here though, Andrew goes on to talk about Instagram, Holga lenses, and even has a beautiful case study on photographer Flavia Schaller. Finally, at the end of the book he has some tutorials on how to crop, how to make vertoramas, and how to add borders to images. Even if you are very comfortable in post processing, I’m confident you will pick a few things up in this final section. I know I sure did.

If you didn’t catch it from the tone of my review, I’ll say it very simply. You should buy this book. Whether your an amateur or a veteran there is something for you here, and it is worth well more than the $5 price of this eBook. Even better, buy it in the next week and you can get it for $4 using the discount code square20.

You can pick up “Square” on Andrew S Gibson’s website, here:
Click here to visit Andrew S Gibson.

And if you haven’t read Andrew’s six other eBooks, I highly recommend you check them out on Craft & Visions website:
Click here to visit the main page for Craft & Visions eBook collection.
They are Beyond Thirds, The Evocative Image, The Magic of Black & White: Part I – Vision, The Magic of Black & White: Part II – Craft, The Magic of Black & White: Part III – Nine Photos, and Andes.

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