Balance

In this exercise the instruction is to examine six previously taken images and decide how the balance works in each one.

I haven't exactly conformed to the letter on this one as one of the images is crop taken as part of another exercise , but it does have relevance.

In this image I find that the mass of the image tends to have balance towards the centre.All of the elements combine to push the viewers eye towards the centre of the image.

In this image we have a main central mass and two lesser features towrads the edges. This balances the composition by applying an equal "force" to the apparent fulcrum as indicated below.

I found this image intriguing as it is a balance within a balance in a way. Two main central masses balance each other then within the top there is a further subdivision with the main point of interest slightly off balance.

In this image we see the use of creating a dynamic by placing the composition out of balance by deliberately putting emphasis on this by placement of the main subject within the frame. This works as it is to the right so as the image is "read" the viewer will find the dynamic pleasing as it follows the expected "flow" across the image.

In this image we see an imbalance in the image caused by the weighting of the image to the left. There are no compositional reasons for this it was just a bad shot... or was it?

This is the cropped result which was part of the exercise where the above image comes from and shows how the balance can be returned as the two main areas become more equal around the fulcrum or point of balance of the image.

In conclusion it is best to assume that images don’t always need to be the same on each side – symmetry can be a good compositional tool but sometimes images can be improved greatly by having a secondary point of interest for counter balancing the main point of an image and providing those ‘empty’ spots with a little more weight.Also that sometimes a bit of judicious cropping can improve the overall balance.