I have often referenced the inspiration I take from other creative arts, and often this inspiration comes from cinema.

As I approach a scene for the first time I decide what it is I want to convey; be that a landscape, an emotion, an abstract or minimilist interpretation, or in this instance walk through the set of a movie scene.

2.39:1

There are many aspect ratios used in photography and in cinema, but these are often steered by the dimensions of your camera sensor or film type. For example, the Fuji X-trans sensor in my X-H2 has a ratio of 3:2 which is the same as 35mm film. There are other options that can be selected in camera such as 1:1 (square crop, another favourite of mine) or 16:9 which is considered by most to be “wide screen” (your TV is probably 16:9 for example. But what happens when you go wider, I mean much wider?

That is where the cinematic aspect ratio of 2.39:1 comes in! This ratio is what is considered the official standard for widescreen projection.

Whilst technically there is far more to it than just cropping an image to the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, I shall leave that to this article to explain. For me, and hopefully the viewers of my images, there are simpler factors to consider.

When choosing the 2.39:1 aspect for cropping an image we do loose resolution (we are cutting the image down after all), so it is important to consider what parts of the captured image are we prepared to crop out.

Anamorphic lenses take light from a much wider field of view, and compress it onto the standard medium, where it is later uncompressed (at the projection stage by another anamorphic lens). Whilst we can’t achieve that with our standard spherical lens we can follow the principle of squeezing as much as possible into the narrower aspect ration we have chosen.

More to the Story

Of course there is more to the story than just cropping the image to a cinematic aspect ration. As previously discussed in my post Unseen Narrative: The Lone Diner colour palette plays a vital role in establishing the cinematic mood.

The muted tones of these scenes fit with the patina and age of the vehicles, reminiscent of the cinematic film available at the time of the vehicles production. Indeed, this triptych could have been captured as I walked through a movie set, making my own story as I progressed.

Were the vehicles involved in an accident?
Where did the driver flee to?
What was recovered from the glove box before leaving the scene?

This is where the stillness of cinematic photography provides a snapshot of a much larger story and allows the viewer to decide their own narrative.

Whilst the majority of images are displayed in their native resolution, it is always worth considering how the aspect ratio might alter the scene and how it can be another tool to create a new narrative.