Using portrait orientation

Most inexperienced photographers use landscape orientation almost exclusively (except when they shoot a video on their iPhones, then they use portrait!). The fact that we often view our images on a computer or television screen probably also plays a role. Don’t forget portrait orientation! Sometimes this will give you a better image, especially when the most important parts of the image are in a vertical plane. There is also a optical illusion you can use: if your telephoto lens isn’t really long enough to get that animal are other subject close, using portrait orientation seems to bring it closer. It doesn’t really do that, but because we tend to look at the width of the image, the animal just seems to fill the frame more. Use this to your advantage to create more interesting images. Below two shots of the same giraffe using the same lens.