  The effect of using two representations of the normal-to-surface magnetic
field to calculate photospheric measures that are related to active region (AR)
potential for flaring is presented. Several AR properties were computed using
line-of-sight ($B_{\rm los}$) and spherical-radial ($B_{r}$) magnetograms from
the Space-weather HMI Active Region Patch (SHARP) products of the \emph{Solar
Dynamics Observatory}, characterizing the presence and features of magnetic
polarity inversion lines, fractality, and magnetic connectivity of the AR
photospheric field. The data analyzed corresponds to $\approx$ 4,000 AR
observations, achieved by randomly selecting 25 % of days between September
2012 and May 2016 for analysis at 6-hr cadence. Results from this statistical
study include: i) the $B_{r}$ component results in a slight upwards shift of
property values in a manner consistent with a field-strength underestimation by
the $B_{\rm los}$ component; ii) using the $B_{r}$ component results in
significantly lower inter-property correlation in one-third of the cases,
implying more independent information about the state of the AR photospheric
magnetic field; iii) flaring rates for each property vary between the field
components in a manner consistent with the differences in property-value ranges
resulting from the components; iv) flaring rates generally increase for higher
values of properties, except Fourier spectral power index that has flare rates
peaking around a value of $5/3$. These findings indicate that there may be
advantages in using $B_{r}$ rather than $B_{\rm los}$ in calculating
flare-related AR magnetic properties, especially for regions located far from
central meridian.
