Balance in photography composition isn't something mandatory in your photograph, but understanding it properly has real benefits for a photographer. Here are some:
- With the help of balance , you can produce more visually comfortable images. Balance creates a sense of harmony in the image, making it more pleasing to the eye.
- Direct the viewer's attention. A cleverly balanced composition can direct the viewer's attention to the subject, making it easier to communicate the intended message or emotion. Understanding balance lets you use lines, shapes, and colors to guide the viewer's eye through the image. (Yes, geometry has an impact on balance as well.)
- Convey stability or instability. A balanced composition can create a feeling of calmness or serenity, while an unbalanced one creates tension or unease. Knowing how to play this way helps you convey the mood you want.
- Create comfort or discomfort. Balance has a strong connection to our visual perception. We can use balanced compositions to achieve harmony, while unbalanced ones create discomfort.
- Stand out from the crowd. By manipulating balance, you can create unique and memorable images that capture the viewer's attention and imagination.
Out in the field, balance doesn't come with a set of guidelines. It's something you feel when looking at an image rather than a clear rule. It might take a photographer several years to see clearly which elements in a photo are balanced, which are not, and how they affect the viewer.
SYMMETRY: ONE OF THE KEYS TO BALANCED COMPOSITION
Symmetry is a powerful tool. It's the visual effect created by mirroring elements on either side of an imaginary line in the image. Used effectively, symmetry creates proportion, harmony, and stability. It comes in several forms:
- Horizontal symmetry. The most common type in photography: the image divides horizontally in half, with elements mirrored on either side. This creates equality, making the image more visually appealing and easier to read.
- Vertical symmetry. The image divides vertically, mirroring elements above and below. This can create calm and harmony, particularly with reflections.
- Diagonal symmetry. Instead of a straight horizontal or vertical divide, a diagonal line splits the composition.
- Radial symmetry. Elements mirror around a central point, creating a circular or spiral pattern. Great for balance in images with circular shapes.
BALANCE IN PRACTICE: EXAMPLES
Horizontal symmetry. With equal-sized forms at equal distances from the center on both sides, the frame feels natural and balanced. If you have something on the left, make sure you have it on the right as well.
A slight shift creates misbalance. One way to play with the feeling of a photograph is to bring one of the objects a bit closer to the edge of the frame.
The object on the left now appears larger than the one on the right, creating a sense of misbalance: more visual weight on the left side, which draws more attention (remember, the heaviest part attracts the viewer's eye). Even small shifts in size or distance from the center affect the image.
Vertical symmetry. The calm water of the lake mirrors the fisherman on the boat: whatever we have on top is reflected below.
But the image is still not perfectly balanced, because the boatman sits on the right side of the frame. That side is heavier, and our eye is drawn to it.
Balancing differently sized elements. Different sizes can be balanced through placement. In this photograph of a boy and his grandfather from Ethiopia, the grandfather is larger, but also slightly closer to the center.
Placing him there creates equal visual weight on both sides of the frame. The boy still pulls more attention, because we can read something on his shirt.
Balancing multiple elements: grouping. With more than one object in the picture, balance can be achieved by weighing one visually heavy object against several lighter ones. In this photograph of Buddhist monks crossing the U-Bein bridge, the one larger monk on the left has similar visual weight to the group of three smaller ones on the right. If you perceive the monks as shapes (which our brain usually does), the shapes are similar in size and equal in distance from the imaginary vertical line splitting the frame. The result is a balanced image.
TONAL BALANCE IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Tonal balance refers to the distribution of light and dark tones in an image. The original idea is to have an equal amount of dark and light on both sides of the frame, but it's not always the case.
There are a few ways to work with it:
- Contrast. Contrast is the difference between the lightest and darkest parts of an image. By having a relatively equal amount of bright and dark tones, we can achieve harmonious compositions. How much of what to put? You can't really calculate it; it comes naturally with experience.
- Exposure. By setting exposure, you decide how dark and bright your photograph will be, and how strong the tones are. You play with the scene's luminosity to achieve the result you want. Watch out for overexposed areas: a hotspot distracts and pulls attention away from your subject.
- Color balance. When it comes to color, there are whole books on the subject. To simplify: we play with color to create either contrast or harmony. Similar colors combined create harmony and balance; contrasting colors do the opposite. One dominant color can be balanced by another.
Here we have yellow as the dominant color and blue balancing it. This is a color contrast photo, not a harmony one, but it looks comfortable because of the distribution of the colors.
And in this example, we have the same tone throughout the image, which creates a consistent visual feeling across the whole frame.
DON'T GET OBSESSED
I've probably only touched the surface, but even understanding these ideas will help you tremendously in creating more balanced images.
It's important to remember that visual balance is not an exact formula. Creating fully symmetrical, ideally balanced images might be possible in a controlled environment like a studio, or in a geometrically perfect location. But in most styles of photography, we're always playing on the edge; there's always an element of the unknown, and the composition is never perfectly balanced.
Balance is something we should all strive to understand better, but we shouldn't get obsessed with it. Misbalanced images are often even more interesting. But that's a story for another time.