Flipping images - a simple yet powerful tool....

Tom Pinchenzo

Tom Pinchenzo

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I was simultaneously watching this video https://fstoppers.com/landscapes/photographing-forests-and-processing-lightroom-dramatic-mood-452350 and editing an image (below). The chap in the video briefly mentions that flipping an image (so it's a mirror image) is an option to change the composition (he was refering to a landscape image). At the time i was editing an image of a Dartmoor Pony and it got me thinking. All of a sudden I realised the pony could be facing the other way around and it made me realise that in the original image, the pony seemed to be facing 'backwards'. Even though there's no 'backwards' in real life, because we read left to right (and years of playing computer games like Mario, where left to right is always 'forward') facing to the left definitely felt awkward and the flipped image felt more 'right',

Is this something anyone else has considered when processing images with people or animals in?? To me it feels like something of a revelation.

Flipped image:
Backlit Dartmoor Pony by Tom Pinches, on Flickr

Original:
Backlit Dartmoor Pony by Tom Pinches, on Flickr
 
It's not something I've considered but I do also find that placing the subject in one of the thirds as opposed to the other third of the frame can help alot and give the picture 'better sense' depending on which way the subject is facing. So the subject faces into space in the frame rather than into the edge of the frame if you see what I mean. I think this image could have been even better zoomed out a little more and giving more space under and proportionally more space in the frame in front of the head. Saying that I'd be very interested to see other members views on flipping as it's an interesting suggestion.
 
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I've never put much thought into it, but I do prefer the flipped version here.
I'll have to look through some of my photos now and try flipping them, thanks!
 
I have done it a few times when something looks better that way, trouble is a lot of my pics have people in them and I wont do it then (most people look different flipped)
TV companies do it a lot, theres a scene in episode one of the pale horse (a new series) where the male lead is flipped, snag is he's wearing a suit jacket with a pocket hanky in the breast pocket.... oh dear, call the movie mistakes people...
 
I think it is like many other things, down to personal choice.

I prefer the original, but both great shots!

T
 
I wonder if your preference is because we read the written word left to right.

Images that take the eye through in the same direction then also feel right.

It would be interesting to survey a load of westerners and also people from countries that write and read right to left. Then see if there is a correlation...
 
Sometimes it works sometimes it inexplicably looks *wrong*.
A more powerful tool is simple cropping
In the example above it needs a bit more space below the feet or do away with them altogether
 
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Although every picture has its own dynamic, I feel that the above argument about 'direction' is spurious.

And concerning any correlation with how we read text, does that mean that if you were Japanese you'd want to stand the horse on its head?
 
Until I had actually looked at the titles of the images I's assumed the first one was the flipped image because to my eye it looks more natural. But, like others have said it could just be a personal thing.
 
We (at least, in the Western world) tend to either think of the past being behind us and the future in front of us or the past to the left and the future to the right. This could be why scrolling games scroll from right to left (movement into the future), but I'm pretty sure it's also why calendars are laid out that way. It's one more tool you can use to allow the viewer to make their own story from what they see in your photos.
 
swanseamale47 said:
I have done it a few times when something looks better that way, trouble is a lot of my pics have people in them and I wont do it then (most people look different flipped)
TV companies do it a lot, theres a scene in episode one of the pale horse (a new series) where the male lead is flipped, snag is he's wearing a suit jacket with a pocket hanky in the breast pocket.... oh dear, call the movie mistakes people...
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TV related, but not related to the thread, I sometimes notice a scene being panned where the editor has 'flipped' the pan so that the scene is running backwards (flames going downwards etc, and sometimes even vehicles travelling backwards). My wife thinks I'm an extreme geek for noticing (she never does notice) but it just messes with my mojo ;)
 
I sometimes flip an image, but beware if there's writing in the photo (billboards, shop names etc) as it will be backwards.
 
I do this from time to time. Can make some locations look just that little bit different too which makes people think..... I started with it about 9 years ago when I was quite into the urban exploring scene to make shots a bit different to everyone else's.
 
I strongly favour compositions that "read" left to right and will often flip an image to favour the composition that way. If I'm thirding a subject, it's almost always on the left third and if it's on the right because stuff is in the way, then I take the photo knowing I'll flip it later.

I also sometimes flip portraits, because subjects who are not keen on having their portraits done are often more comfortable with a flipped face because it's what they see in a mirror. Lightroom even has a button for it! (Go into Loupe View, click on "View" scroll to the bottom and enable "mirror image mode". Extra points for doing this on someone elses version of Lightroom and not telling them!)

Got to watch out for text though...
 
Nostromo said:
but beware if there's writing in the photo (billboards, shop names etc) as it will be backwards.
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There's an odd bit of WWII film footage that shows up quite often in TV documenteries. It allegedly shows an M3 Grant tank in Burma. What's odd is that the tank's main gun appears on the left side of the hull whereas (so far as I've been able to establish) all 6000+ specimens of the tank had the gun on the right side of the hull.

If you're a documentary film maker doesn't that kind of pointless "flipping" blow your credibility out of the window? Of course, you'd probably get away with it in the case of most other tanks which are pretty well symetrical...
 
Tom Pinchenzo said:
he was refering to a landscape image
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I'll flip an image to make it read left to right in situations like the pony example where it is remotely possible that it could have been shot from the other side but I wouldn't flip a "traditional" landscape when it would no longer represent the scene
 
droj said:
Although every picture has its own dynamic, I feel that the above argument about 'direction' is spurious.

And concerning any correlation with how we read text, does that mean that if you were Japanese you'd want to stand the horse on its head?
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That is how the Chinese and Japanese do many of their classic landscapes - vertically rather than horizontally.
 
I do this with some of my images. As my left eye is a bit shortsided and my right is long sighted everything looks better going from left to right - especially any leading lines or impressions of movement. As I now shoot solely for myself I am more concerned about the finished image than accuracy.
 
Suvv said:
As my left eye is a bit shortsided and my right is long sighted
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Snap. My left was so dominant that I couldn't use my right even with spectacles until I finally found an optician who would tackle the problem. Now I can close my left and still see clearly. :D
 
I had an image of a couple walking. When it was taken they were walking right to left but I reversed it so they were walking from left to right, which to me seemed much more comfortable.
I've always understood that westerners prefer movement from left to right because we read from left to right.
I've sometimes wondered how people who read from right to left, or particularly top top bottom, prefer to see movement in their images.
 
simon ess said:
Nonsense.

Focal point on left - eye wants to travel past it. Focal point on right - eye wants to settle on it. For western eyes that is.
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That's how I've always understood it, but what about people who read in different directions - particularly from top to bottom?
Do we have different edits for different markets?
 
It's used a lot in car adverts. Ever noticed how many of the reg plates work both ways? 1 (in reg plate fonts),8,0,W,T,Y,U,I,O,A,H,X,V and M all have symmetry that allows it so an image can be flipped to suit left and right hand drive markets.

To me, things flow better from left to right. Never looks right when I see shots of cars travelling right to left, as they mainly do on clockwise circuits shot from the outfield! (Hard to flip that sort of shot...)
 
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