The Golden Mean within the photo of Shannon Purdy titled "On the Rocks."

This is the final element of composition I concentrated on within my photo of Shannon titled "On the Rocks." 

Principals of composition

One of the most difficult concepts in visual art is the Golden Mean also called the Golden Ratio.  The Golden Mean has been used in composition for centuries. It is a design principle based on the ratio of 1 to 1.618. The Golden Mean can assist in creating images that have a strong composition, which is perfectly balanced from a viewer’s perspective. Creating a photograph that is most pleasing to the eye using the Golden Mean can be difficult. We naturally prefer to look at an image that is balanced and harmonized, and the Golden Mean does this. The Golden Mean/Ratio is actually a mathematical term and can be broke down into simple lines. If you were to put points on a horizontal line A and B you can better visualize the Golden Mean. If line A was longer than Line B by almost double B you would notice that nearly 2XB would nearly equally segment A. Therefore this would nearly put a vertical line bisecting your original horizontal line on the third of the frame. The balance of this ratio is found in many things in nature. The most prominent is the human body. I believe this is why it is such a pleasing and strong visual queue to viewers when utilized.

Notes on this image

In this example Shannon’s head is in the first lower left section. The next section moving up and to the right contains her left breast and is completed by the junction of her thigh and torso. The final section moving in the same direction is filled with Shannon’s thigh, which travels the length of the final section ending at her knee.   

We are getting close to the end of the month and I’m working on a couple of different new tasks. I will be sending out my newsletter at the end of the month and encourage you to sign up. (http://beta.privy.com/s/fr18tsI).

Next week we will be discussing a new photo. I am trying to get a video together which I hope will demonstrate these concepts a little easier. I’m going to put a few together and see how I do. If they come out okay I will post them online but if not forget I ever said anything about it. I am really going to give it my best so we can cover more ground in one lesson and I can describe the concepts we are working with better. I will also try to film a shoot or two and let everyone see how I work with models and give you a sense for the flow of a shoot.   

Thank you and see you next time,

JW Purdy