Video tips for stills shooters: Understanding aspect ratios

In photography you can capture an image in either a horizontal or vertical orientation. However for many years, in traditional videography the horizontal aspect was the only choice – but not anymore!

What should you choose?

Personally, I prefer the horizontal orientation (16:9) for video. It presents your image the way our eyes would naturally see the world. It allows you to fit a wide scene into your frame, and it looks fantastic on any screen. If you are primarily displaying your video on a TV or a platform like YouTube, this is your best option.

Vertical Video (9:16)

So why would you choose to shoot video in a vertical (9:16) orientation? If you plan to share your video on a platform like Instagram or TikTok this is the native aspect ratio.

Your content will be optimised to fill the screen of any mobile device and will look as it should on these platforms.

If you upload video in a horizontal orientation, then your video will appear smaller on the screen.

Are there other options?

When I post online, I also love to crop my videos to a square format (1:1). This essentially gives the best of both worlds – maintaining a more natural look and using more space on the screen of a mobile device than a 16:9 video.

You might even consider putting a graphic at the top or bottom of your frame so that your video is square, but your video still conforms to the 9:16 vertical aspect ratio.

The wrap-up

If you are unsure of where you plan to share your video, then I suggest shooting horizontally and in a high resolution.

This will make it usable across platforms, as a horizontal video can easily be cropped to fit a vertical frame.

Just remember to capture everything with a wider angle of view so that you allow for the crop factor. ❂