BALANCE

 

Balance—the way all the elements are arranged in an image: symmetrical (centered), circular (radial), rule of thirds (off center), rule of odds (three), or simplification

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Symmetrical—creating an even positioning and balance of all the elements in a image with them filling up space equally throughout the image frame. This can be accomplished often by centering your subject. But is also often done by creating mirrored halves of an image by using reflections or by using repeating patterns.

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Circular—balance radiates out in a circular motion from the main element(s) in the image. This is often done with flowers, tunnels, and spinning wheels.

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The Rule of Thirds is a common technique for achieving balance in your composition. If you subdivide your photo into thirds both vertically and again horizontally, you’ll wind up with an evenly spaced grid (like tic-tack-toe boxes). The sections where lines cross are points of interest. These points are where you want to place your subject, parts of the image where you want attention to be drawn or show points of activity.

 

Rarely will you use all four points – many times 1 or 2 – this is what creates balance in a composition. The elements that appear at the intersections of these grid lines in composition always appear more appealing and artistic to a viewer by building more of the foundation of the image's tone (“pop”)

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The Rule of Odds—also known as “Three’s Company” states that framing your subject with 2 surrounding objects (thus creating an odd number of 3) suggests balance & harmony visually. We tend to prefer balance and feel comfortable with these groupings of 3. Groups of 2 or 4 can sometimes create a sense of competition, whereas the odd groupings tend to balance that a bit. This is a very subjective rule, but it does create balance. Remember though that odd numbers really just refer to the number 3. Objects of 5 or more create more density than the viewer will perceive and the effect is null at that point. Larger numbers of objects, can be divided visually into groupings of 3, thus bringing more cohesion to the composition.

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Simplification is the technique of reducing a composition to only the most essential elements that support the visual statement. This technique is particularly difficult for photographers. Studio settings are controlled, but in the case of street photography, improvisation and off-the-cuff shooting situations, its often impossible to control things “in the frame” that don’t support the composition. Landscape, architectural, and interiors present challenges of unnecessary elements. 

• Simplification presents a challenge to lessen the impact of extraneous subjects. This can involve reframing, changing the view point, getting in closer or moving back (to diminish proportion), focus and other techniques to bring out the necessary elements to the picture. A sense of balance is now there that wasn’t as prominent in the original picture.

• It should be noted that simplification implies minimalism, but it’s not limited to that visual style only. It just means your pairing down to only essential elements, limiting some of the distractions in your image

• For example, lets say you’re shooting a skyline at night and there is a lamp post in the frame. This will probably detract from your visual picture so you’ll want to find a way to either make it part of the composition (probably unlikely) or get it out. This could require changing the view, moving to a new location or any number of solutions.

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Technique Tip for BALANCE:
Try to use the “Rule of Thirds” in your compositions

which will help them to be more interesting, appealing, and artistic to your viewer.
CAUTION: Remember, that sometimes an image might actually be better by centering the subject to get the desired effect.

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