Geometry... — mike palmer creativity

Geometry is the third of the six elements of sound photography that I’m following these days. The first two, Luminosity and Contrast, have been explored in my last two Blogs. A definition of Geometry suggests it is the branch of mathematics that deals with angles, dimensions and relative sizes of things we see in everyday life. One also learns about many things such as lines, symmetries and similarities including shapes such as triangles, parallelograms, circles, squares and rectangles.

“Geometry is not true, it is advantageous.” Henri Poincare

It’s very relevant to photography because certain principles can be considered in order to improve the composition of an image. These should not be seen as imutable laws but as guidelines to consciously take into account for every image in order to enhance a subject. I explore here some of these common guidelines, which of course can be broken at any time in order to fulfil the creative intent of the image taker!

Glastonbury Abbey - Lady Chapel entrance

Symmetry - pleasing balanced proportions

Symmetry offers a restful structure to the eye - provided all uprights and horizontals are exact! The apex of this doorway is in the top centre of the image and the left side of the imaginary centre line exactly mirrors the right side. The path through doorway and out the other side acts as a subtle leading line (see Diagonals and leading lines below) and the lower points of the roof shape above the curved arch are on an imaginary line with the upper third of the image (see Rule of thirds below). Compositionally, these three factors hopefully combine to produce a visually pleasing and attractive image. Do you agree?

Diagonals - straight lines connecting two points at different heights in an image.

Diagonals can capture the eye and act as a visually effecive boundary within the image to offer contrast and creative tension. Here, the edge of the foreground, running from the bottom right corner, acts as the boundary with the softer main subject of the Abbey ruin. Without this, and taken from a different angle with just the grass in the foreround, a less interesting image would probably have resulted. Does it work for you?

Leading lines - lines that are used to direct the viewer’s eyes to the subject.There are many ways that this can be effected.

Leading lines can be used for dramatic effect, both to capture the viewer’s initial attention and then to tempt their eyes to the subject. Leading lines also give depth to an image by showing the foreground much broader than the background, enhanced further by the use of a wide angled lens, as in this image. Here, there are two ways this is done: the central drainage channel leads the eye directly to the altar, and behind it a woman standing, the distant subject. More subtle leading lines are the wall/floor junctions halfway up each side of the image leading to the edge of the altar place. I judged that keeping so much foreground enhanced the drama of the shot, but it’s quite possible that others might think it’s a little too much. What do you think?

S-Curves - sometimes known as the “line of beauty” travels back and forth horizontally through the image as the eye proceeds vertically through the scene.

In landscapes, with a similar but softer effect than leading lines, they are typically, but not always, used with a river, path, valley or coastline, drawing your eye through a scene from the foreground to a subject in the distance. Here, the waterfall in the foreground intially grabs the attention and then the eye wanders back through the rocks to the further waterfall and the green glade beyond. The image becomes more restful and focussed. Do you ageee?

Rule of Thirds - A classic compositional framework where an image is divided into thirds vertically and horizonatally and the main subject is positioned on one or more of the junctions or along a line itself.

This is not a guideline specific to photography: it’s also used in art, design and films, and was first described as far back as 1797 by John Thomas Smith, forty years before the generally accepted genesis of photography in 1839 by William Henry Fox Talbot. It’s principles suggest its use enhances the composition of an image as it provides balance for the eye, away from a dead-centre shot, dynamism to provide more interest, and emulates the direction in which the eye usually scans any image. It’s therefore useful for beginners to use as they gain experience of different images and what works for them. Ultimately, one can decide when “breaking the rule” (see below) is preferable for creative reasons. Modern digital cameras have this grid built into the viewfinder so it can be used in the field, and processing packages like Adobe Lightroom also have it as an overlay to assist appropriate cropping in post-processing. Here, not only does the horizon lie on the top third line, but the centre of the diagonal line of the foreground rock/sea boundary is roughly on the lower third imaginary line. Can you see the thirds and does it work for you?

Parallels - lines on a plane that never meet and are always the same distance apart.

Parallels are less common in landscape photography as you are less likely to come across natural lines that meet these criteria, which would be more common in street scenes and city-scapes. However, occasionally an image does contain parallels and this is an example which contains seven - the vertical and horizontal lines of these four roofs of fishing net huts in old Hastings. Emphasised in black and white, they provide quite a dramatic image of this fascinating area. Do you like this?

Breaking the rules - it’s allowed!!

Having these - and other - guidelines gives a starting framework for any image and you can be conscious of the different impact/s each might have on a final composition when in the field, or in post-processing. However, the wonder of creativity is that you can then decide to break them to create more impactful effects that match your own creative impulse!

Here, rather than using any of the above guidelines, I wanted to capture this beautiful full swirl of cloud at sunset and to give an idea of scale, positioned the sea stack in the bottom left-hand corner. Thus the eye is initially attracted to the clouds in the sky and then drawn down through the sunset on the horizon, finally resting on the stack. For me this captures the moment of wonder that I experienced and the relative importance of the different elements of this scene. WIth hindsight, I would have cloned out the rock on the image border next to the stack as I now think it distracts from the stack itself. Does it work for you?

Summary Thus, geometry in photography is an important element in any image and provides the photographer with various guidelines to use or ignore as part of their cretaive process. I hope this Blog has helped to raise the consciousness of this in the minds of photographers when you’re next out in the field…