Determining whether an image works best in portrait or landscape orientation is not always a simple decision. Considering your equipment, the purpose of the image and the subject all come into account when deciding what will work best. We’ve put together a guide on landscape vs portrait photography to help you navigate what might be best for your photography!
Check out our articles The Portrait Photography Equipment You Need In Your Camera Bag and 5 Steps to Taking the Perfect Landscape Image on the Camera House blog to learn how to take great portrait and landscape images.
Landscape vs Portrait Orientation
What is Landscape Photography?
Landscape-oriented photography is when an image is wider than it is tall. This can be in a range of dimensions but the most standard size of a landscape image is 3:2. As the name implies, landscape photographs are ideally suited for capturing expansive landscapes, cityscapes, and situations with greater density.
What is Portrait Photography?
Portrait photography, in contrast, is when an image is taller than it is wide. As with landscape photography, portrait images can come in various dimensions but are most commonly at a 4:6 ratio. Portrait orientation is more popular for social media images, portraits and shots which feature a subject taller than it is wide, such as a waterfall or skyscraper.
Landscape vs Portrait: Examples
Check out some examples of what you can do with landscape and portrait images. You can see that both orientations lend themselves to multiple styles of photography. Experiment and see what styles work for you!
Landscape Photo Examples
Portrait Photo Examples
Landscape vs Portrait: When to use
When to Use Landscape Orientation
Landscape photography, as the name suggests, is especially suitable for capturing broad landscapes, skylines, and situations with higher densities. When the scene in front of you has a broad arrangement, take pictures in landscape orientation. This may be more typical in nature, but there is plenty of room to experiment with landscape shots in different scenarios to determine what best suits the image.
When to Use Portrait Orientation
Portrait imagery on the other hand is much more popular when it comes to social media. TikTok and Instagram stories have led to the rise of the portrait image orientation which is wonderful for marketing and branded content. Traditionally, portrait images have been wonderful to capture subjects with an eye-catching focus and detail. This could be subjects from people to animals or even objects. There are a plethora of images you could capture in portrait orientation.
Landscape vs Portrait: Camera Setting
Landscape Photo Camera Setting
The greatest landscape pictures are typically captured in raw format with the smallest aperture (typically f/16) and lowest ISO. Starting with these settings and playing with aperture, ISO and shutter speed here is a great way to experiment with what works best for the image that you are trying to capture.
Portrait Photo Camera Setting
When taking portrait images, you want to make sure you start with your camera's natural base ISO option. This will help to produce a high image quality and reduce noise while capturing details. For aperture, select a f/1.4 to get a blurry background past your subject, or a higher aperture to keep the background more in focus. From here you can also play around with the settings to see what is working best to capture the image in front of you.
Landscape vs Portrait: Equipment Selection
Best cameras for landscape photography
Generally when taking photos in landscape orientation, you want to be capturing a scene in front of you, such as nature, in its fullest capacity. When looking at great cameras for landscape photography, consider models with high megapixels, a long battery life, a broad dynamic range, weather-resistant build, and features like focus stacking.
Our pick at Camera House for landscape photography is the Canon EOS R5 Body Only Full Frame Mirrorless Camera. The Canon EOS R5 is a truly fantastic camera for landscape photography with a top-of-the-range image stabilisation system, an amazing autofocus system, high-speed shooting and processing while still offering the same familiar usability that 5D series shooters know and love.
Best lenses for landscape photography
The most common lenses used for landscape photography are wide angle and ultra-wide angle lenses. These lenses allow you to capture a vast amount of the scene before your eyes in images. Focal lengths on wide-angle lenses typically range from 14 to 35mm.
Our lens pick at Camera House for landscape photography is the Canon RF 14-35mm f/4L IS USM Ultra Wide Zoom Lens. Great for landscapes and wide-angle shots, the RF 14-35mm can be used for everything from landscape and architecture photography to candids and portraits. When attached to a camera like the EOS R6, its overall length is about 150.55mm, making it convenient to keep and bring with you when you go on shoots.
Tripods and mounts are a great accessory to help capture steady images in landscape orientation, especially for nature or cityscape photography. If you’re on the go while taking images, spare batteries always come in handy when the camera starts to run low and there's no powerpoint in sight.
Best cameras for portrait photography
Portrait orientation photography is a great way to capture subjects, such as people, animals or objects. This can make you feel much closer to a subject. Equally, portrait orientation can be great for capturing high-rise buildings, waterfalls or other tall scapes which are otherwise difficult to photograph.
Auto-focus is a wonderful feature to consider when purchasing a camera for portraits. This is especially helpful if your subject will be moving, such as animals in the wild. Low-light capabilities of a camera will give you the ability to take images in any lighting conditions. Cameras that don’t perform well in low-light tend to have a lot of grain or noise in the images which can ruin the details of subjects you’re trying to capture clearly.
Our pick of cameras at Camera House for portrait photography is the Sony Alpha A7R IV A Compact System Camera. The Sony Alpha IV is wonderful for portraits of subjects, with a fantastic senor that delivers 15 stops of dynamic range. This results in hyper-detailed renderings of finer details in the images, with technology to produce vibrant and flattering tones.
Best lenses for portrait photography
The most common lenses for portrait photography all have great auto-focus, aperture and vibration reduction features. This is wonderful to help capture subjects clearly with the finest of details shining through in images.
Our pick of the best lens for portrait photography is the Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 Zeiss Lens. This powerful lens features one AA element and one aspherical element for effective control over astigmatism, coma, field curvature, and other spherical aberrations. Fast, quiet, and accurate autofocus performance is provided by a ring drive Super Sonic wave Motor autofocus technology and internal focus mechanism, which also supports more intuitive and natural manual focus control.
Cleaning cloths are a wonderful way to ensure that your lens is always clean and clear to capture crystal clear images free from dirt and smudges.
Shop Cameras and Photography Equipment at Camera House
Take advantage of Camera House’s knowledgeable staff in-store and online and ask them all about whether portrait or landscape photography is best for you! Check out our shipping information online and enjoy flat-rate delivery Australia-wide, or check out our store locator to visit a Camera House store near you.
