Weekly challenge 3/16 - 3/22 A delicate balance...

[jcdeboever]

JC you really are getting some nice B&W. This is the devil in the details, but I saw some where there's an object in the background that to me makes for a bit of a visual distraction.

In the one of the boy and the man, there's a light triangle between them that isn't really part of the picture of their interaction. I tend to see shapes. There's also one above the head of the woman with the boy; scrunching down and changing the vantage point may have gotten that person behind the woman and out of view.

The one of the boy with the computer is so nice, I find the computer being out of focus makes for half a box/geometric shape that draws the eyes. I think it would be great without that, I think the balance is in him is in the dark hair and dark collar, and the nice angle getting the eyes and mouth in balance. I think you do well with lines drawing the viewer's eyes (and I think you may have the golden ratio in that one).

You may have it in the one of the three boys too. I like the balance in that one, I'd just rather be able to see all of them and not have so much of the overall photo out of focus so I'm not trying to figure out what's on his shirt - but then you've got to consider the background and if you could've kept that sign out of the frame.

I learned to go for a 'clean' composition which avoids distractions in the backgrounds and often means changing the angle and/or vantage point.

Where are your images?

 

[bulldurham]

I look for and generally only shoot when I have a total visual balance. Currently with my house under reconstruction (post Hurricane Michael), my shooting fodder is limited and while I mostly shoot for insurance references, on occasion I like to find something "artsy."

I had observed these two for a good part of the day and they worked so much in unison, I knew a good shot was there for the taking and my only task was to wait for the right moment, the lines and angles to be in position, the right sky and the least amount of back/foreground clutter. As someone has in their byline, "photographs are made, not taken."

 

[smoke665]

@bulldurham I wondered if your shots were workers at your house. Man it's been a long time on the repairs, I know you'll be glad when Michael is nothing more then a bad memory.

 

[bulldurham]

@bulldurham I wondered if your shots were workers at your house. Man it's been a long time on the repairs, I know you'll be glad when Michael is nothing more then a bad memory.

It will be years before this area even remotely resembles what it looked like before the storm. It will be several lifetimes before it looks like it did before the storm as far as foliage goes. My house had two heritage oak trees in the 250-300 year range and they were small for the area. We've lost over a hundred years of pine forest totaling over ten million tons of forest lands. Over 68,000 homes were damaged and 85% of all business. It's a real mess and most houses will rot away before they can be roofed.

 

[gk fotografie]

When I think of balance in composition, I don't tend to think of symmetry. Not that there is anything wrong with symmetry when one intends to imply weight or solidity or gravitas. I tend to think of balance more like a Calder mobile. Calder would place a large element close to the cable which suspends the mobile and a small element at a distance. The lever arm allows the smaller element to balance the large element.
I try to place the primary visual element or main subject in frame often around that 1/3 line and then try to compose so that there is something else in frame that acts like Calder's small element at a distance. I'm editing right now a floral image shot this weekend which might illustrate this. The small elements might be luminosity related or color related; something which would tend to draw the eye toward that other side of frame momentarily.
I'm writing this now so that this becomes a "watched" thread and I can find it again after I finish editing and post to Flickr.
gk fotografie's geometric wall image in post #32 is a good example. His hello/you in post #30 is another.
His top photo in post #29 is subtle, with that large expanse of negative space pulling the eye toward the right from the highlighted mannequin.
jc's vertical balance in post #28 is a great example using the diagonal between the mother and child with eye contact and the child's reaching hands providing connection.
Well, anyway, back to the editing.

Thank you, I've taken the images without knowledge of the theme of this weekly challenge. It seems that what I learned as a photographer and designer long time ago, is simply ingrained in my memory. Despite my diverse creative escapades, I'm still the same 'old school' photographer who unnoticed applies all the rules concerning composition, color etc. I see that many people indeed think of 'symmetry' when it comes to balance, while a balance in composition can also be achieved through repetitive patterns, light/dark proportions, hues and in many other ways. Nevertheless I think this is a very nice challenge!

GK those are great examples and wonderful photos as always.
Someone mentioned consistency early in the thread which I think is necessary to keep in mind with information online. Many sites are self done by someone who may not have adequate knowledge or experience or who may not understand a concept or not know how to explain it well. There are sites that will use an article submitted whether the person who wrote it has much expertise or whether it's well written or accurate or not.
If you search 'elements' and/or 'principles' of composition in 'art' instead of photography it should bring up some reliable resources. These art resources on composition seem consistent with what's generally known and used across the board.
Principles of Design
Composition and Design Principles
Balance - Revision 1 - GCSE Art and Design - BBC Bitesize
The Artist's Toolkit: Encyclopedia: Balance | ArtsConnectEd
http://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/building_lessons/formal_analysis2

Thank you for the compliment, you nailed it, for everyone who wants to become a 'good-better-best' photographer it's much better to look at websites about Design, Art or Architecture/Interiour design and read good books about composition, color theory, etc. than to gather so-called "knowledge" through all kinds of dubious photography websites where nonsense is often proclaimed. Composition and color theory aren't specifically something within photography and it's therefore a good idea to step into a (local) library for borrowing study books that are used at the universaties in Art courses or courses for Architects, Interior designers etc.

The balance is in the subject. It is the color.View attachment 170339

Beautiful, when I saw this I immediately had to think of a piece of jewelry from Lalique that I saw years ago in the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. (https://gulbenkian.pt/museu/works_museu/peitoral-libelula/)
Is this taken with the Fuji GFX?
BTW, thanks for the POTM nomination, I feel honored!

 

[jcdeboever]

When I think of balance in composition, I don't tend to think of symmetry. Not that there is anything wrong with symmetry when one intends to imply weight or solidity or gravitas. I tend to think of balance more like a Calder mobile. Calder would place a large element close to the cable which suspends the mobile and a small element at a distance. The lever arm allows the smaller element to balance the large element.
I try to place the primary visual element or main subject in frame often around that 1/3 line and then try to compose so that there is something else in frame that acts like Calder's small element at a distance. I'm editing right now a floral image shot this weekend which might illustrate this. The small elements might be luminosity related or color related; something which would tend to draw the eye toward that other side of frame momentarily.
I'm writing this now so that this becomes a "watched" thread and I can find it again after I finish editing and post to Flickr.
gk fotografie's geometric wall image in post #32 is a good example. His hello/you in post #30 is another.
His top photo in post #29 is subtle, with that large expanse of negative space pulling the eye toward the right from the highlighted mannequin.
jc's vertical balance in post #28 is a great example using the diagonal between the mother and child with eye contact and the child's reaching hands providing connection.
Well, anyway, back to the editing.

Thank you, I've taken the images without knowledge of the theme of this weekly challenge. It seems that what I learned as a photographer and designer long time ago, is simply ingrained in my memory. Despite my diverse creative escapades, I'm still the same 'old school' photographer who unnoticed applies all the rules concerning composition, color etc. I see that many people indeed think of 'symmetry' when it comes to balance, while a balance in composition can also be achieved through repetitive patterns, light/dark proportions, hues and in many other ways. Nevertheless I think this is a very nice challenge!

GK those are great examples and wonderful photos as always.
Someone mentioned consistency early in the thread which I think is necessary to keep in mind with information online. Many sites are self done by someone who may not have adequate knowledge or experience or who may not understand a concept or not know how to explain it well. There are sites that will use an article submitted whether the person who wrote it has much expertise or whether it's well written or accurate or not.
If you search 'elements' and/or 'principles' of composition in 'art' instead of photography it should bring up some reliable resources. These art resources on composition seem consistent with what's generally known and used across the board.
Principles of Design
Composition and Design Principles
Balance - Revision 1 - GCSE Art and Design - BBC Bitesize
The Artist's Toolkit: Encyclopedia: Balance | ArtsConnectEd
http://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/building_lessons/formal_analysis2

Thank you for the compliment, you nailed it, for everyone who wants to become a 'good-better-best' photographer it's much better to look at websites about Design, Art or Architecture/Interiour design and read good books about composition, color theory, etc. than to gather so-called "knowledge" through all kinds of dubious photography websites where nonsense is often proclaimed. Composition and color theory aren't specifically something within photography and it's therefore a good idea to step into a (local) library for borrowing study books that are used at the universaties in Art courses or courses for Architects, Interior designers etc.

The balance is in the subject. It is the color.View attachment 170339

Beautiful, when I saw this I immediately had to think of a piece of jewelry from Lalique that I saw years ago in the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. (https://gulbenkian.pt/museu/works_museu/peitoral-libelula/)
Is this taken with the Fuji GFX?
BTW, thanks for the POTM nomination, I feel honored!

Yes, it was. It was a huge crop. All I have at this time is the 63mm 2.8. It is a different animal (GFXR) all together. Very slow, just the way I like it. Image output is incredible. I bought it for large prints and machine product photography.

 

[Frankinfuji]

Trying to show balance at Wat Hon Thong, Thailand.

 

[johngpt]

Trying to show balance at Wat Hon Thong, Thailand.
View attachment 170389

Frankinfuji, the small figure at the frame's edge on the right is just the sort of thing about which I was writing. It has a strong highlight and yellow color which echoes that of the color on the large figure at left. Both those characteristics balance the large mass of your main subject via the distance in frame from the large figure's face. A really cool triangle is created between those two figures and medium sized figure that is on the vertical third, higher in frame than the large figure and smallest figure. There is dynamic balance of contrast and hue that brings the eye throughout the frame.

 

[johngpt]

I had thought I'd wait to post this at Flickr for tomorrow's Fence Friday group but it turned out that I'll be out with friends for a good portion of the day and won't likely be around to do that. So I posted it today to be able to post it here.


spring flowers and fence 16Mar19

The main subject of course is the open flower within that bunch. I had moved myself around trying to get that blossom near a vertical third and get some sort of highlight near the opposite edge of frame. I noticed some blurred highlights higher in frame and turned the camera to try to get some near that upper left corner so that like in Frankinfuji's image, there would be something of luminosity contrast that would bring the eye to more of the frame.
In post processing I accentuated local contrast at the stamen and pistil via selective dodging and burning. I also burned some darker shadows in a diagonal that travels paralleling the blurred highlights at low frame going toward the upper left corner and dodged those blurred highlights too.
I also dodged the blurred highlights near the upper left corner. I also painted in yellow color captured from the blossom at those upper left blurred highlights just slightly to get the eye to make the connection between the two areas, similar to the color of the robes in Frankinfuji's image.

Below is a sort of schematic of that...

Quite some time ago I had copied an image of what's called the golden spiral, which is based upon the golden ratio. I superimposed that onto my image and was surprised to see how well my eyeballing the composition coincided with that spiral. The rule of thirds is supposed to be based upon the golden ratio.

So, this is how I tend to think of balance in composition. There are lots more concepts out there.
All the worthwhile ones seem to go back to the painting masters.
Sorry about how long winded this got.
My wife says I'm the person who when asked what time it is, tells ya how to build a clock...

 

[johngpt]

I look for and generally only shoot when I have a total visual balance. Currently with my house under reconstruction (post Hurricane Michael), my shooting fodder is limited and while I mostly shoot for insurance references, on occasion I like to find something "artsy."

I had observed these two for a good part of the day and they worked so much in unison, I knew a good shot was there for the taking and my only task was to wait for the right moment, the lines and angles to be in position, the right sky and the least amount of back/foreground clutter. As someone has in their byline, "photographs are made, not taken."

View attachment 170359

View attachment 170358

Bulldurham, thank you for including those red arrows. It sure made it easier to follow, and gave me the idea to do something similar.

 

[johngpt]

Here is one based on triangles and luminosity contrast. It is from this last November. I hope it's alright that it wasn't shot this week but I think it illustrates some similarity in that the largest group of figures and that fellow in the hat are close to the vertical third. Then since the eye is drawn to brightness, I was able to catch that patch of light near the right edge of frame and some highlights on the head of one of those guys. Then I had hoped to catch those long lines creating large and small triangles throughout frame.


hangin' at the hanger

If it's not kosher to post since it wasn't shot this week, I'd be happy to delete it.

 

[paigew]

Finding lots of "balance" shooting in nature today.

first bluebonnet bloom of the year

Blue mist flower

verbena and a butterfly (idk what kind :/ )

 

[johngpt]

Paige, your lowest image is straight out of classical painting composition.

If you're interested this image came from the following website.
The golden triangle: compose pictures classically

Can you see how your butterfly is at the apex of a triangle, left side bounded by green foliage and right side by the edge of the group of purple flowers?

 

[zulu42]

 

[gk fotografie]

View attachment 170437

Oh well, yes, it can be that simple, nice!