Composition-
Balance: Formal, Symmetrical, Assymetrical
Dominance and focal point
Classwork:
1. Read the following article about balance.
After reading the article, look at the following photographs and describe their composition using terms relating to balance. Refer to them in your comments as the yellow building, jumping man, and men with umbrellas.
2. Now, look at this photo taken for a cover of a Beatles album. In the comments below, answer how your eye travels around the photo. Specifically, describe the visual hierarchy, what do you look at first and why. How does your eye move around the photo. Does you eye ever go off the photo? Is there anything that leads your eye back into the photo?
3. In a group of 2 or 3, find a photography that you believe demonstrates excellent composition. Post the photo in the comments area and describe the composition by explaining how your eye travels, what do you see first, how does your eye move around the photo, is there anything that takes your eye off of the photo?
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ReplyDelete1. I liked the yellow building because it's visually even when you first look at it, but with a close analysis, one can see that there is definitely more content on the right side of the photo. There is a red flower pot in the bottom corner as well as flowers on the window, and most white on the walls. Now when you look at the photo, the right side seems much heavier.
ReplyDeleteThe other two photos were pretty balanced in my perspective. The man jumping demonstrated motion and direction, while he was positioned slightly to the right in the picture. There are also more round things in the middle ground and background, which helps even it out.
At first look, the umbrella men photo seems pretty even, but with a clearer look at the background, you can see that the buildings are off and only the building in the middle gives us a sense of symmetry. It's a cool picture, though.
2. I first see the thick lines on the foreground, which leads me to the characters walking across the scene. Perhaps it's just me, but I immediately realize how big the people are in relation to the sidewalk lines. Afterwards, my eyes go down the road and it's helped through the sky/tree line closing in at the background.
1.yellow building- this photo has symmetrical balance because it is even throughout. what makes it a great photo are the slight changes on the left and right side of it. the flowers on the left are less alive compared to those on the right. however on the right there is a bucket. overall the right side is more lively.
ReplyDeletejumping man- this photo is balanced, but at the same time, because the man is split down the middle, it provides a sense of asymmetry. on the right side the hay bundles are closer than those on the left side, also providing a sense of asymmetry. overall it is color balanced. what attracts the attention of the viewer is the fact that the man is jumping over a dominant element, the large hay bundle. it is not the color.
men with umbrellas- it has visual symmetry, but what grabs the viewers' attentions is the downcast look of the man on the right and the forward, focused look of the man on the left.
2. My attention is immediately grabbed by the man on the right, because he is wearing a more vibrant color, blue. then i follow the crosswalk through the rest of them and end on the direction the guy on the right is looking. I then proceed to notice the background and specifically the imbalance of cars on the right side, and the dashed divider line running off into the background.
1) In 'The Men With Umbrellas,' there is a strong representation of symmetrical balance. If the photo were to be folded over the middle, everything would line up.
ReplyDelete2)When I look at the Beatles photo, my eyes follow the picture from left to right,the direction the men are walking.you can tell that the men are the focus of the picture because everything else is symmetrical, hence more boring than the non-symmetrical line of the Beatles.
The yellow building as well as the men with umbrellas both have a symmetrical balance. For the most part you could split the two photos down the center and they would be very similar on either side. The jumping man has a balance of contrast, his body and the hay line up on a vertical line and his bright white clothing contrasts the dark hay beneath him. In the Beatles album photo my eyes follow the horizontal line they all create. Then the straight road makes me look to down the street and to the back of the photo.
ReplyDeleteIn the yellow house photo the composition is very well thought out because the rule of thirds is used very well. And the colors are very well balanced in the photo.
ReplyDeleteIn the picture of the Jumping Man, the photo is very well balanced because the center of the picture and the balance of color is very well composed. The background is also completely black and white which gives a good sense of balance and composition.
In the picture of the men with umbrellas the picture is very well balanced with the two men both with umbrellas on either side of the picture. Also the Empire State Building makes the picture better because it makes it seem like it's centered.
In the Beatles album cover my eye first looks at the men walking across the street and then travels toward the background and the sky of the photo, then i begin to look at the crosswalk and how the men are walking in a row. After i have looked at it my eye then goes to the man on the sidewalk
yellow building: has great amounts of balance from left to right it is almost mirrored
ReplyDeletejumping man:there is more sky than ground but the man in the air and the hay roll balance the picture out
men with umbrellas:greatly mirrored image and very classy and artsy
Beatles:my eye travels first from the 4 people then to the ground pedestrian crosing after that it folowes the road all the way back taking me from car to car.
The yellow building is symmetrical, with the door centered in the photo and a window on either side balancing out each other. The jumping man is asymmetrical, but since the man is in the center of the photo it still looks balanced. The men with umbrellas is symmetrical. The building is centered and the focal point, and then the men are mirroring each other. i think the visual hierarchy of the photo begins with the Beatles themselves. Your eye is first drawn to them because they are the most important part of the image. But then i feel your eye moves down the road into the background of the photo, though the Beatles are still the focal point.
ReplyDelete1. Yellow building - I like that this photo is nearly symmetrical, and very balanced in every aspect, ie the contrast between the windows/door and the color of the wall, as well as the equal amount of the two major colors.
ReplyDeleteJumping man - This photo has a very obvious balance between light and dark, as well as two visually heavy objects balanced across the horizon line.
Men with umbrellas - It seems like it's almost symmetrical, but isn't; however, there is still a sense of balance as objects on both sides mirror each other in terms of visual weight and contrast.
2. Beatles album - My eyes never leave the photo, because of how much detail is put into it; the sky/trees are perfectly balanced with the road/beatles on the bottom
1. The yellow house is an image of almost symmetrical balance, though it is still a bit heavy on the right due to the red bucket and the more brightly colored flowers. There is also the more whiteness or paint removal on the yellow house. The jumping man shows asymmetrical balance, the background has somewhat of a seesaw effect, the man balances out by pushing his torso on the left half of the picture while keeping his arms on the right side of the photo. The men with the umbrellas is another asymmetrical photo, though I feel that it is slightly tilted to the left. Due to the angle there is a much larger building on the left side that is somewhat balanced out to the many smaller buildings on the left. The Empire State Building which is probably supposed to be center is slightly tilted to the right. The man on the right's suit is slightly darker which causes more imbalance.
ReplyDelete2. The Beatles photo immediately takes your eyes straight of to the right of the page.
In the orange building there are windows on either side of the door balancing out the picture. In the picture of the man jumping, he is directly over the hay, and there is hay on either side of him. In the picture with the man with the umbrellas, there is a building separating the two men and both men are in the same position facing away from the middle evening out the picture.
ReplyDeleteThe lines of the road draw your attention to the guy in the black suit and then you trail off to the women in the white suit then you move to the person in the blue suit then you move to the blue sky.
1. The Yellow House and the Jumping Man both are symmetrically balanced in composition. The men with umbrellas are also symmetrically balanced. In the Jumping Man, the white suit the man is wearing contrasts with the deeper grays and blacks of the rest of the picture. In the umbrella men photo, the large building in between them balanced out the empty space. In the orange house picture, there is no foreground and background like in the other photos and it makes the building sort of pop out.
ReplyDelete2. In the Beatles album cover, the first thing my eye looks at is the place far off in the distance where the street disappears. It follows the tree line back to the band, then follows the band across the street and then stops but the tree line on the right brings my eyes back to the photo. So street, trees, band, trees.
In the picture of the jumping man, I like the balance between rest and energy. The haystack is large, dark, and stationary, but the man is able to balance out the picture despite being much smaller because he is suspended mid-jump and is much lighter in color. In the picture of the yellow building, there is very good symmetrical balance, but subtle differences like the flowers in one window or the bucket by the stairs help to keep the photo interesting.
ReplyDelete1. Yellow Building. is a very balanced and symmetrical picture. The windows above, and to the side of the door give the picture a great sense of balance, and give the eye a "map" to follow. I really like the picture of the jumping man because it shows motion, and that's one of the things i really want to learn in this class. in my opinion this picture is not as balanced as the yellow building, same with the men with umbrellas.
ReplyDelete2. I think this picture has a perfect balance, the two guys in the sides wearing bright colors, and the guys in the middle wearing black, the trees and the sidewalk lines, give the picture a great sense of balance.