8mm Forum: A Supid Question

This is topic A Supid Question in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on May 25, 2017, 09:57 AM:

Can someone please tell me why people with cell phones and smart phones always take pictures and videos in a vertical format? You see it all the time on TV news and it seems so silly. Are they too lazy to turn the phone horizontally, or do they not have even the slightest knowledge of photography?

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on May 25, 2017, 10:05 AM:

I think you answered your own dilemma there Paul with the words you used to describe the "photographers" of today! [Big Grin]

Not a great deal of thought ever goes into composition of shot etc.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on May 25, 2017, 11:40 AM:

Gee, I always thought those folks liked a lot of unnecessary info on the top and bottom.

What gets me is the people who are filming tragedy's while intelligent people are actually helping. There was this situation just a few days ago where a seal grabbed a little girls dress from behind and whipped her into the water. The grandpa instantly dives in and saves her, but there's the always present person who instead, whips out a cell phone and continues to film, no doubt thinking "Gee, this could be tragic ... super cool" instead of helping. Grrr, I just hate cell phones in general ...

signed ... grumpy ole man!! [Smile]

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on May 25, 2017, 12:26 PM:

Don't blame the phones Osi, the cell phone is a great technology.
But do blame the bone heads who are addicted to them and have no common sense about using them responsibly.

Posted by Ty Reynolds (Member # 5117) on May 25, 2017, 12:46 PM:

Back to Paul's question... I think it is because it is more comfortable or natural to hold the phone vertically when using just one hand. If someone is holding the phone horizontally, it is almost always with both hands.

Posted by Michael Lattavo (Member # 4280) on May 25, 2017, 02:25 PM:

I think its because if you are holding it one handed it is easier to press the 'take' button with your thumb when holding it upright versus sideways....

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on May 25, 2017, 04:00 PM:

Vertical videos are a pet peeve of mine also. My son who knows better just posted some videos he took on his trip to Bangkok. They were all taken vertical with his cell phone and it looks like you are looking thru a partially opened door. I pointed this out and hopefully he'll turn the phone horizontally on his other videos. Brief vertical videos might be ok for social media...but video editors have tradition horizontal project settings. We never had this problem with video cameras.

Posted by Thorsten Wagner (Member # 1151) on May 25, 2017, 04:37 PM:

Hello there,

this might be a good topic for my first post, as I have an astonishing answer:
The reason is a serious problem called "Vertical Video Syndrome", I´ve heard about it on youtube and would like to share the knowledge by providing you the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA

So, it took me 9 years since registering and reading the forum regularly until I left a reply... Sorry, I´m not the most vivid communicator on the internet and in fact it´s my first forum post ever! Maybe it´ll be the start of sharing some more thoughts, stories and informations, maybe even more serious ones, who knows.

And thanks to all of you for the valuable information and the polite acquaintance one can experience on the forum!

Posted by Rob Young. (Member # 131) on May 25, 2017, 05:31 PM:

Thorsten, that is one funny link and I reckon perfectly sums up our collective thoughts here. [Smile]

Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on May 26, 2017, 10:04 AM:

I hate cell phones with a passion. [Mad]

They are too much of a distraction. I have had numerous instances where Nurses' Aides stop taking care of my Mom due to them. I have to say now whenever we get someone new that I do not care if they play a game on their phone as long as they have finished their work till the end of their shift. Then I have to tell them if its work related or family that's fine as long as they keep it short in duration. I also was in a hit and run accident because the driver was on a cell phone. The world did just fine without them before the technology became available to the masses. Lousy composition when taking a video is mostly because too many people nowadays can't be bothered to make the effort. They are also used to watching terrible low resolution uploads on YouTube.

Posted by Barbara Strohl (Member # 5227) on May 26, 2017, 04:02 PM:

I want to add that this isn't a new phenomenon. There have always been masses of people who do not understand how to use an item.
As a photographer I have seen a lot of photos taken in the wrong orientation because of how a device was set up. Most people never think "Oh I can turn my camera, phone, whatever." I bet if you made a trendy camera app in landscape, you would see a lot more landscape videos.

And the trend of watching has been growing. I have seen people living through viewfinders in the past. Now that smartphones have everything and so many have one, it has gotten exponentially worse.

I remember being on a train in the Canadian Rockies and I was on an outside platform disappointed that I couldn't get a shot that captured what I was seeing. I went inside to warm up and saw a whole bunch of people looking out a window through viewfinders and thought they were missing soo much.

Posted by Ty Reynolds (Member # 5117) on May 26, 2017, 04:15 PM:

You're right that experiencing life through a viewfinder is nothing new. I remember a gag on Rowan and Marin's Laugh-In (it was probably an oldie even then):

"How was your holiday?"

"I don't know. The film's not back from the drugstore."

Posted by Rob Young. (Member # 131) on May 26, 2017, 04:24 PM:

[ May 26, 2017, 07:16 PM: Message edited by: Rob Young. ]

Posted by William Olson (Member # 2083) on May 27, 2017, 07:50 PM:

I'm glad to see I'm not alone in my feelings about vertical phone pics and videos. I think that people just don't think about it or care about it. That's how they hold their phones so that's how they take pics and shoot video. I myself shoot everything horizontally. I think anyone into film, video and photography probably do the same.

Posted by Jason Smith (Member # 5055) on May 27, 2017, 08:11 PM:

I have a 45 minute vacation video that a friend made but unfortunately he recorded all of the footage on his cellphone in the vertical format.

I would like to have the movie preserved on 16mm film but I don"t know if I would be satisfied with how it would look.

Posted by Barbara Strohl (Member # 5227) on May 27, 2017, 08:24 PM:

Sorry William, unless I have to snap a pic instantly, I rotate my camera both ways to see the better composition. And if I don't have time to decide, I will frame a much larger area that I can crop down afterwards. Some of my favorite pictures are in portrait (things I've entered in competitions, things hanging in my husband's office, etc.).
By always going horizontal, you are being as bad as the people who always go vertical.

The terms landscape and portrait come from art because portraits are normally taller and landscapes are usually wider. Photographers follow this standard most of the time, but not always.

Jason, I would try editing it digitally. You may be able to crop , edit, black bar, and stretch the video into something that can then be watched as film.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on May 27, 2017, 09:07 PM:

Barbara, the issue here is not vertical still pictures, which are just fine indeed preferable for many subjects. But movies just have to be in horizontal format or IMO they just look ridiculous. But as William says most people just do not care.

Posted by David Hardy (Member # 4628) on May 29, 2017, 05:17 AM:

Hahahahaha !

It wont be long before we see Scope or Academy ratio formats
on these phones. [Big Grin]

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on May 29, 2017, 05:46 AM:

With the amount of camera`s about in phones now, we should of seen a huge rise in credible picture`s of UFO`s, Big Cat`s, Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti and other various creature`s !!!

But doesn`t seem to be happening as of yet.

Best Mark.

Posted by William Olson (Member # 2083) on May 30, 2017, 08:32 AM:

Barbara, I certainly see your point. I referenced pics and videos but in reality it was really the vertical videos that I have a problem with.

Posted by Miles Shephard (Member # 5938) on June 06, 2017, 04:26 AM:

But it's great for the split screen look if you comp 3 portrait clips together.

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