TAOP Part 1 - Exercise 6 Balance (Dividing The Frame)

TAOP Part 1 - Exercise 6 Balance (Dividing The Frame)

For this exercise I've selected some images I've taken in the past and used a technique to examine how balanced the images are. Using a virtual weighing scale I've looked ta the key elements in this set of 6 images and weighed each in turn to see how balanced they are.

Image1

In this image the sky is almost a mirror of the water and there is balance created with the trees on the left as short and fat and those on the right as long and thin.

 

 

Image 2

 

In this image the winding river creates a nice flow through the image and the sand banks give an equal balance on each side of the image and the bank with the trees on the horizon crosses the full width of the image adding to the overall balance of the image.

 

Image 3

 

The stone in the foreground appears to unbalance the image at first sight but I feel the viewer will understand that because its in the mid distance though it looks smaller it is likely to be the same size and the shadow gives a connection between the stones

Image 4

 

Though the thin stem of the flower starts on a bottom left third the flower head is central and gives the image an overall balance. Had the flower stem started from the bottom central position the image would I think have been less interesting. Had the stem been much thicker then the image may not have appeared so balanced

 

Image 5 

 

The plane's wings are equally spread across the image and on an upper horizontal third and the wheels and tail flaps on a lower horizontal third gives this image balance.

Image 6

 

Though there is 1 main subject, the tree is also key to the overall image. I think that because the girl is just off centre there appears to be an in balance with the tree which is close to the right hand edge of the frame, however I feel overall the image does work. I wonder what others think, feel free to comment

 

Exercise Learning's

a) Images can work well because they are balanced because there is almost a natural harmony to the image which the eye and brain find comfortable

 

b) Some images can be obviously balanced and some less obvious

 

c) Image 6 shows how that even when an image is obviously imbalanced the image call still work. Perhaps in this image this is the case because the girl is nearer the bottom of the image then the tree to right and therefore seems to exert more "weight" within the image. Perhaps my scales aren't quite right, what do you think?

 

d) This has been a very interesting exercise (especially as its been a learning activity without the camera) since sometimes as this images show that when I've taken an image it felt balanced within the viewfinder for reasons I may not have fully understood but I have felt it was a good image. Examining the balance in this way perhaps confirms the reasons for this.

 

e) What I will do in the future is from one scene take several images and using the virtual scales create 1 balanced image and several imbalanced images. I can then compare these to see if the the balanced image is indeed the best....I expect that as always there are exceptions to balance in terms of what makes a good image