Monday, February 2, 2009

February 2, 2009


These images are examples of the importance of balance in a composition. The image on the right is the first one I generated. I liked the four columns (repetition) and the strong girders, which both support the vertical elements and oppose them. But there was something off about the way I'd cropped the photograph. The longer I studied it, the more I realized that the red-orange support on the right was too big. It overpowers the rest of the elements, even though it only fills about a third of the space!

I copied the photo and played around with cropping it again. I settled on the version you see at the top. The large column on the right is now balanced within the picture world through the addition of the blue sky elements on the right and left. Notice that the blue sky form on the left is broken into two segments by one of the narrow columns, but it reads visually as a continuous shape.

In the first version of the picture, the two blue bits of sky don't hold their own against the bold, largest column. In the second picture the introduction of new blue elements changes two aspects of the composition. By adding the additional blue forms, an imaginary triangle is introduced. The triangle keeps my eyes moving around inside the picture world. The new blue form also expands the right side of the composition, so my eyes no longer bumps uncomfortably into the red-orange pillar. Balance has been introduced and the audience breathes a sigh of relief.

2 comments:

Jackie said...

Thank you for letting us see into your thought processes. I appreciate understanding why one works better than the other, and I certainly agree that it does. Keeping the eye moving is key, isn't it? I am fascinated and pleased by the forms and lines in buildings, fences, bridges, churches--all kinds of human-created forms. There is, quite simply, beauty everywhere! Thanks for sharing.

Fay's Fun said...

In the bottom version I feel overpowered, trapped and threatened - my "eye" has no where to travel.
For me the top version is open, with places to go - and I find it interesting that "I go" to the left - away from the large forefront pillar -- but am quite comfortable to come back into the picture again.
(I just do not believe how much my understanding has grown in these couple of months --- Thanks Jane.
Fay

November 20, 2008

November 20, 2008

November 20, 2008

How does color set a mood? The soft gray and white of the carpet, the cat Marshall, and the sunlit window contribute to to the sense of calm repose. What does blue mean to you or me? We all have symbolic associations for colors; some based on personal experience and some instilled culturally. 

The cobalt blue of the vase provides a point and counterpoint to the composition, in addition to providing elements that balance.
Keeping the cat in the lower third of the composition weights the image and is another visual door into the picture world.

November 19, 2008

November 19, 2008

November 19, 2008

This picture tells several stories. It references the human desire to order the world around us - the lettering on the wall establishes the alley as a No Parking zone, and the broken glass-  jutting out at the top - is another message of fear and frailty. Whoever lives behind this wall wants to be left alone.

But there is beauty in the contrast of the rough brick surface and the smooth translucency of the broken glass bottles. A contrast of textures makes for an interesting composition. And the abstract nature of the printed letters against the structure of the bricks would be worth emulating in another sort of composition.

There is as much beauty in decay as there is in a bouquet of fresh flowers. And aren't decay and fresh growth just two different spots on the same continuum?



November 18, 2008

November 18, 2008

November 18, 2008

The Hydrangeas offer a lesson in the effective use of color. The pale blue and lavender are roughly the same value, so they balance each other beautifully. I am challenged to mimic that combination of analogous colors on silk Habotai!

This photograph would be considered beautiful even without the red-orange and yellow flowers at the bottom. But the addition of the complements to the blue and purple creates a focal point and generates some nice contrast because of the complementary pairing. And imagine how different this composition would be, were the red-orange and yellow at the top instead of at the bottom. The current placement adds important visual weight.

November 17, 2008

November 17, 2008

November 16, 2008

November 16, 2008
Being and Non-being

Substance and Light

November 16, 2008

We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside 
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the space inside
that holds whatever we want.

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.

Tao te Ching; Verse 11
Stephen Mitchell translation