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The Golden Ratio is one of the most eye catching compositional techniques that photographers can use in their work.
The Golden Ratio and the Fibonnaci.
The Golden Ratio is 1 to 1.618. The use of this ratio in art and sculpture was popularized during the Renaissance in Europe by artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci although mathematicians have been studying it since Pythagoras.
The Golden Ratio in Nature.
Fibonacci was one of the greatest mathematicians of his age and during the 12th Century he helped to introduce the Hindu-Arabic numeral system in the West. He also developed the ‘Fibonacci Series’ which incorporates the golden ratio into geometry and spirals. Incredibly, this spiral can be seen everywhere in nature, from a seashell, to a sunflower’s seeds, to the ratios of human and animal anatomy.
It can be hard to visualize the mathematics of the golden ratio, however it’s not necessary to be a math genius to use it in your photography and you will certainly recognize the spirals in nature. They have a natural harmonic relationship that is extremely pleasing to the human eye on a deep psychological level which is why they are used in photography. In fact, it runs so deep that even our own human DNA spirals in a golden ratio!
The Golden Ratio in Art and Architecture.
Any craft that requires composition has benefited from the use of the Golden Ratio. The Mona Lisa is a famous example of a painting, by Da Vinci, that made use of the Golden Ratio throughout its composition. The figure of Mona Lisa is drawn in a ratio of 1:1.618, from the face, to the dimensions of her arms, body and even the background scenery! The result is that the viewer feels a massive sense of balance and harmony when they look at the painting.
In architecture the strategy has been employed when designing the dimensions of buildings, the number of columns and their specific heights and width. A great example of this in practice is the Greek Parthenon, which still stands overlooking the city of Athens, where many of the ideas that underpin the Golden Ratio first emerged in ancient times.
How can you use the Golden Ratio in Photography?
Without getting into any math, we can simplify this amazing theory in order to help us use it in photography. The ‘Golden Rectangle’ is a compositional technique that artists, sculptures, architects and more recently, photographers have used to give their work a sense of balance.
When we combine the Golden Rectangle, which you can imagine is the view through your camera, with the Fibonacci Spiral we get a picture like the one here.
Many famous and highly successful photographers have used the golden ration to help them compose some of their most iconic images including Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier Bresson among many others.
In this famous picture by Ansel Adams, the mountain’s right hand side peaks are in the center of a Fibonacci, or Golden Ratio, spiral as it spirals away into infinity. Without even knowing it, the viewer intuitively senses this and has the feeling that the picture is ‘balanced’.
Understanding and using the golden ratio and the Fibonacci spiral in your photography is a much harder thing to master than the rule of thirds or making use of negative space. You need to become confident in spotting it in the composition of scenery and subjects within the image. It’s a fairly abstract type of composition skill but as you learn more about it and practice using it you will start to identify it everywhere!
Here’s a fascinating image that makes use of the golden ratio in a fairly surrealistic and abstract way and in doing so manages to make the bizarre image feel balanced and well composed.
The Phi Grid.
The easiest way to begin using the golden ratio in your photography is to make use of the Phi Grid. The Phi Grid is similar to the grid that we use in the Rule of Thirds however, in this case the grid’s central sections are smaller than the outer ones, in a ratio of 1:1.618.
When you are using the Phi Grid in your composition, place the subjects of your photography on the intersections of the lines. You can use strong natural horizontal and vertical lines in the image along the intersecting lines to increase the impact of your compositions.
Getting Started – Building up to using the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci in your work.
When you are learning to use the golden ratio, the Phi Grid and the Fibonacci spiral in your work, it can be a good idea to use Lightroom or Photoshop software. In both of these programs you can superimpose a Fibonacci spiral or a Phi Grid over your photographs and by moving the pictures around and cropping them you can start to experiment with the concepts.
It will take some time to internalize these ideas however once you do you will quickly notice that the composition of your work has massively improved and that your pictures just ‘feel’ right.
At the beginning of studying composition it’s a good idea to go from the easiest methods to the hardest. Once you have mastered the Rule of Thirds and using that grid to position your subjects, then move on to using the Phi Grid. This is quite similar but a little harder to use. Finally, once you have become comfortable with these two compositional methods, start using the Fibonacci spiral to create your compositions.
When you start practicing with the Fibonacci spiral you could try arranging items on a table in a spiral and experimenting with still life compositions that you have put together yourself. Then, once you are confident with this you can head out into the real world and find compositions that incorporate the Fibonacci spiral in them in your local area.
The Golden Ratio is a Powerful Tool for Composition.
Composition is a complicated subject that could easily take a lifetime of work to fully master, however, every step along the path of understanding will help you to grow artistically and create more powerful photographic compositions.
As a photographer, as I am shooting photos in Philadelphia or other locations, I pay attention to the overall composition and the rule of thirds a lot more than any other techniques including the golden ratio and the phi grid.
Do you use the Golden Ratio or the Rule of Thirds in your photography?
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