Balance or, Why is the Center Weak?

[Garbz]

The obvious consequence is this: It is not enough to push the subject off center, you must ALSO give it something to balance against.

Do yourself a favour and get and study a copy of this book: The Photographer?s Eye by Michael Freeman ? Review

I'm not sure who came up with the idea of the rule of thirds, or the centre being weak, but these are only a very small set of design elements that go into a photo. The book also has a very awesome and dramatic picture where the subject is purely centred while talking about the concepts of symmetry in images. Then there's other concepts like how high or low in the frame do you put the image, the concept of anchoring the frame to a point while not making the viewer nervous that their eyes are leaving the frame.

The book will really open your mind to all manner of compositional concepts, one of them being balance.

Kudos for figuring it out.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I don't know that the example is necessarily centered because the cup has a handle which seems to make it asymmetrical, and the horizon line divides the composition away from center. I think the third photo has a more asymmetrical balance since each object/shape is a different distance from the edge of the frame (the light goes to the edge of the frame). The cup makes use of line too, and there's negative or empty space in the photos so I think there are a number of elements being used here.

I think the various elements of composition usually work together to create balance or imbalance in an image. Doing a search on elements of composition in art (instead of photography) should provide resources and information about elements like line, texture, shape, value (tone), form, and color from sources such as the Getty museum, Artsedge at the Kennedy Center, etc.