Why are headshots 9x12?

[whitworth photography]

I'm trying to understand why headshots for models (and I would assume

actors as well) are 9x12 as opposed to say 8x10 ( which is in a

medium format ratio) or 8x12 (35 mm ratio)? Is 9x12 based on some

industry standard instead of the film format it is taken in?

 

Thanks,

 

Kirk

[joseph_wisniewski]

Actually, 8x10 isn't a medium format ratio, and 9x12 is.

 

645 is 60x45, factor out 15 and you get 4:3.

 

Take 12x9, factor out 3, and you get 4:3.

 

Movies were origionally 3:2, but when "talkies" became popular, some room was needed, and the film format was cut down to 4:3. People quickly got sick of that, and anamorphic lenses brought the format back to 3:2, and then beyond, to things like 2.2 aspect cinamascope.

 

4:3 was, for the last 5 decades, the aspect ratio for TV, so I imagine that's why you see it for actors. That made life easy for the people using round vidicon tubes, masked to rectangular 4:3. The ratio of diagonal to horizontal to vertical is 5:4:3, so if you know the diagonal, you know the horizontal (at 80% of diagonal) and the vertical (at 60% of diagonal)

[kelton]

I am not familiar with head shots. Why, if 9x12 is preferred to fit TV and movie screen formats, are they shot vertical? Shouldn't they then request horizontal portraits?

[joseph_wisniewski]

Good point. I'll stick with the "same as 645 medium format" answer, with a touch of "5:4:3 to make it easy" thrown in. ;)

[kbreak]

9x12 will fit the majority of magazine covers into the models' books, that's why.

[oceanphysics]

>> 645 is 60x45, factor out 15 and you get 4:3.

 

Actually it's 56x41.5, but you're essentially correct about the ratio.

 

35mm silent fims were not 3:2. They were 4:3. Sound 35mm film is actually 1.37:1 (the "Academy Standard").

 

Anamorphic lenses are used for very wide aspect ratios, but the moderately wide ones are just cropped.

[Spearhead]

Go with Kevin's answer.

 

The world beyond internet photographers really doesn't care about film format ratios, they care about where the faces will end up.

[joseph_wisniewski]

But don't they end up on TV?

[mike dixon]

A TV won't conveniently fit into a model's book--a tearsheet from a magazine <b>will</b> fit nicely into a 9x12 book. What Kevin said . . .

[joseph_wisniewski]

It was a joke, Mike ;)

[oleg k]

I do lots of headshots, and all (100%) of my clients ask for 8x10". So i don't know where 9x12 came from.

[jenacolson]

I'm with you, Oleg. My sister is starting to audition for off-Broadway shows and asked that I do some headshots for her...and she requested 8x10s. Same with my friend auditioning for Second City in Chicago: 8x10 requested again. I've never heard of 9x12 headshots...