{"id":3109,"date":"2013-12-22T09:20:24","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T17:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/?p=3109"},"modified":"2019-11-19T22:32:41","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T06:32:41","slug":"mastering-composition-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/2013\/12\/22\/mastering-composition-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"Mastering Composition – Balance"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many rules of composition.\u00a0 I know people don\u2019t like to use the term rules and for good reason.\u00a0 If you treat these rules as if they are hard and fast you can end up with compositions that are mechanical.\u00a0 So I prefer to call them \u2018principles of composition.\u2019\u00a0 Now I\u2019ve said before that composition is a problem solving endeavor.\u00a0 That is, you have been inspired by what lies before you, you have connected with it and you have an idea of what you want to say.\u00a0 And one of the key elements in communicating your message is the composition you choose.\u00a0 There is generally a point where this becomes very much of a problem solving effort, meaning it can get very analytical.\u00a0 And while the analysis may be important if not essential, it can cloud aesthetic considerations.\u00a0 Take for example this photograph of dawn in the Little Lakes Basin up Rock Creek in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.<\/p>\n

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I was drawn to this Lodgepole Pine growing from a cleft in the granite above the lake.\u00a0 I gave a lot of thought to this composition and compositional principles came very much into play.\u00a0 The way I saw it, the two key elements were the tree and the lake.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think of the peaks in the distance as being a key element although I knew they were important.\u00a0 And I was aware of the lake as a leading line the drew the eye to them. I placed the tree on the right 1\/3 line so that it wouldn\u2019t block the lake.\u00a0 And I enjoyed the wonderful alpenglow as I captured a few images through the final minutes of civil twilight.\u00a0 Then I wandered off looking for other photographs.\u00a0 But later, after the sun came up I was drawn back to this tree and saw it completely differently.<\/p>\n

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After exploring other compositions the Lodgepole Pine called to me again.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t found anything that inspired me as much as this tree.\u00a0 So I set up again and this time the composition was completely different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The compositional principles employed in the two images are similar, especially with regards to the tree which sits on a 1\/3 line in each. But the key elements changed.\u00a0 In the second image the tree is still dominant but the composition now calls more attention to the distant mountain peaks rather than the lake.\u00a0 Instead of the lake providing the leading line that draws the viewer\u2019s eye to the mountains, now the granite in the foreground and the lake in the middle ground do that.\u00a0 Also, in the second image there\u2019s a large boulder on the right that helps to channel the eye up to the peak.<\/p>\n

But this is all analytical thinking.\u00a0 From an aesthetic point of view the second image is more balanced.\u00a0 It\u2019s the placement of the tree and the boulder that do that.\u00a0 There are masses on both sides of the image that keep it steady.\u00a0 The first image feels unstable.\u00a0 I get the feeling that it want\u2019s to topple over to the left, especially when seen side by side with the second.<\/p>\n

Balance is more of\u00a0 thing you feel than something you figure out. Oh sure you can talk about the placement of elements, visual density, contrasting tonal qualities and colors, physical mass, symbolic counterparts, all of which can be used to describe a balanced image.\u00a0 But generally when you\u2019re out there shooting the composition will just feel right when it\u2019s in balance.\u00a0 You can figure out all that analytical stuff later if you want.<\/p>\n

One thing that strikes me about the first image is that it may be balanced in different light.\u00a0 I love its soft light and the alpenglow on the pine.\u00a0 If I had taken a third shot using the first image\u2019s composition but after there was direct sunlight on the lake, the added intensity on the water may have given it more weight and been enough to balance the image.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s something you can do to strengthen balance in your photographs.\u00a0 Look at some of your photographs with an awareness of balance.\u00a0 Identify the key elements and see how they relate to each other.\u00a0 Are they in balance?\u00a0 How could they be rearranged to improve the balance.\u00a0 Realize that this is all very subjective so don\u2019t try to be analytical about it.\u00a0 Just experience the image.\u00a0 Here\u2019s an example of one of my photographs in which the balance could be improved.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a very nice sunset moment.\u00a0 It\u2019s the beautiful Pigeon Point lighthouse along the Central California Coast.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t see it at the time but the setting sun is too close and to the outside of the rock on the left.\u00a0 It\u2019s weakens the balance of the image. If I had just moved 10 or 15 feet to the right that would have placed the sun between the rock and the lighthouse and the composition would have been much stronger.<\/p>\n

So the next time you\u2019re out shooting be aware of balance and your images will become even stronger yet.<\/p>\n

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Read other recent articles on composition:<\/p>\n

Mastering Composition – What?<\/a><\/p>\n

What is your experience with balance?\u00a0 Share your comments with us.\u00a0 We always enjoy hearing from you.<\/p>\n

If you enjoyed this post please share it on Facebook, Twitter, etc. so that others can also enjoy it.<\/p>\n

We cover composition in our workshops so come on out and join us.\u00a0 We\u2019d love to see you.<\/a><\/p>\n

You can also check out our photography.\u00a0 Click here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Strengthen your images by considering Balance in your compositions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[293],"tags":[353,485,32,126,1234,1235,498,13,288,1233,482,1231,1232],"class_list":["post-3109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-composition-how-to-articles","tag-alpenglow","tag-balance","tag-california","tag-composition","tag-little-lakes-basin","tag-lodgepole-pine","tag-photo-workshops","tag-photography","tag-photography-workshop","tag-rock-creek","tag-rule-of-thirds","tag-rules-of-composition","tag-sierra-nevada-mountains"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Nl7-O9","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3109"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4628,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109\/revisions\/4628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}