Best aspect ratio to start an online gallery

I am planning to create my own online portfolio and was wondering what aspect ratio works best for SmugMug or the likes. I have been used to cropping my images 16:9 to fit my monitor but I guess that is not the best aspect ratio for online gallery.

Any advise on what you use on your galleries?

Personally, the fact that a photo is viewed on line is NOT the reason for selection of aspect ratio, IMHO.
As a photographer presenting my work as 'art', what drives aspect ratio is COMPOSITION!

You want the best aspect ratio that best shows off your Subject, and perhaps creative use of cropping to eliminate distracting elements in the photo.

Completely agree with Wilt.

I crop based on the picture, not on the media on which it will be presented. Online galleries can and do support any crop your mind can conjure as long as it makes sense in the context of the photo.

I typically follow the advice I received long ago. When you think you've cropped enough go a bit further, subject and framing dependent of course.

I watch Youtube videos of people who send their pictures to well known "Pro's" for "critique" and cropping is the advice most often given. I sometimes look at a pictures and wonder why the heck would you leave that in the frame. (Not folks posting on this site, most get it and crop extremely well.)

Thank you both for the advice. I completely agree and I try to crop my photos for composition.

I just asked because I see a lot of 2:3 photos on SmugMug galleries.

Also realized that my crop factor doesn't go well with the print sizes of SmugMug.

well, a lot of dSLRs are simply 2:3 by nature, just as 4/3 format cameras are 3:4 by nature.
You do have some cameras Iand smartphone) that allow a choice of format aspect ratio, even when their inherent format is something else, like smartphones being 16:9 or so.

Don't forget that no matter how it was originally shot, EVERY time you choose a print size it is very likely to require a different aspect ratio...

4x6 differs from 5x7 differs from 8x10 differs from 11x14 differs from 13x19 differs from 14x17...and so on.
So if you sell your photos, the actual aspect ratio is going to be dependent upon the size of print that is desired by the buyer.

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Whichever aspect ratio you use, I think it is important to maintain a degree of consistency across your portfolio. . For each gallery, I would try to stick with only one aspect ratio for the vertical images, and one or two aspect ratios for the horizontal aspect ratios. . Any more than that, and your gallery, as a whole, begins to look hodge-podge.


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Tom Reichner wrote in post #19181264
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Whichever aspect ratio you use, I think it is important to maintain a degree of consistency across your portfolio. . For each gallery, I would try to stick with only one aspect ratio for the vertical images, and one or two aspect ratios for the horizontal aspect ratios. . Any more than that, and your gallery, as a whole, begins to look hodge-podge.


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I believe that your statement of

• keeping the number of aspect ratios down to a minimum to maintain a degree of consistency across your portfolio
  
  goes in fundamental conflict with
  
  
• the concept of presenting the ideal composition for each shot and cropping accordingly...a very wide range of aspect ratios, potentially
  

1. Presenting a whole series of portraiture makes it a whole lot easier to present one or two orientations/format aspect ratios
   
2. Presenting a series of landscapes is inherently more difficult to keep them 'all the same'.
   
3. Not sure what problems are posed inherently to a commercial photographer who might shoot a wide variety of products...long guns vs. pistols, for example, and tiny gears vs road graders vs. network switches
   

Wilt wrote in post #19181353
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I believe that your statement of

• keeping the number of aspect ratios down to a minimum to maintain a degree of consistency across your portfolio
  
  goes in fundamental conflict with
  
  
• the concept of presenting the ideal composition for each shot and cropping accordingly...a very wide range of aspect ratios, potentially

I don't challenge your idea, I am merely pointing out the dichotomy of the recommendations.
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Yes, you are right in saying that the two philosophies are in conflict.

I very much still agree with what I had recommend, and very much disagree with the 2nd recommendation. . I think that doing it the 2nd way results in a sloppy looking hodge-podge of a portfolio, while the first recommendation results in a cohesive, professional looking body of work.


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Well, OP don't listen to me on this topic, as I'm not good enough to even have a portfolio, which is why I still have a day job.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19181722
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Yes, you are right in saying that the two philosophies are in conflict.

I very much still agree with what I had recommend, and very much disagree with the 2nd recommendation. . I think that doing it the 2nd way results in a sloppy looking hodge-podge of a portfolio, while the first recommendation results in a cohesive, professional looking body of work.

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That's a matter requiring careful thought in gallery design aesthetics.