Dividing the frame: Balance in others work

After the balance exercise, there were three photographs to discuss how balance was achieved in each one.

The first was “On Sussex Downs” by Frederick Evans which showed some trees on a horizon placed two thirds high in the frame, with a track from the front left corner stretching back into the distance in the right middle ground. I think the balance here is created by the definitive line of the horizon, which creates two blocks of distinct colour. Although the bottom two thirds of the picture should make it feel bottom heavy, the cleverly placed track running diagonally through it breaks up this space. I have been watching some of the podcasts recommended by the OCA, and after watching the episode concerning the ‘rule of thirds’ find that this photograph is a perfect example of this. It creates it’s balance by dividing the frame into thirds, the horizon dividing it horizontally and the track dividing the frame diagonally. It makes for a naturally balanced image, yet the prominence of the trees on the horizon creates slight tension being placed in between the ‘thirds’ of the frame.

The second image was by Robert Adams, called “Farmyard, Thurman, Colorado”. The photograph has a few farm outbuildings and a tree placed in the middle ground, with telephone wires crossing diagonally in the top of the frame. Its hard to find an obvious balance in this shot, but the position of the outbuildings dotted across the centre of the picture creates an imaginary line running through it which balances it with the sky above. The telephone wires above are at opposing angles to each other and take the viewers focus away from the obvious balance in the scene, but they create a sort of invisible trail for the eye to follow, starting in the top right corner and zig-zagging down until you follow the buildings across the photo, which in turn brings you to the balance of the photo. So at first the photograph appears unbalanced until you study it further and let the elements in the shot guide you to it. Maybe this is just a personal opinion but its the way I see it.

The last photograph was “Quintin Hogg, Q.C.” by Cecil Beaton and portrays a man sitting in front of a cupboard at a table, with a smaller table and bowler hat on top next to him. The cupboard only fills one half of the background, the rest is just a blank wall behind the bowler hat. The elements in the picture make an ‘L’ shape from the negative space around them. This negative space makes the bowler a much greater focal point, so that it is able to contend with the dominance of the much larger man and cupboard to it’s left. I think this kind of unusual balance created the kind of tension in an image that makes it interesting to view as its difficult to understand why the scene is so pleasing to view, yet goes against traditional composition. Of the three photos, this is my favourite because of the tension within it, and its obvious attempt at making the shot feel slightly uncomfortable yet compelling to look at. It makes two objects that should not be given the same importance in a conventional photograph, really work well together by competing for the viewers attention in an unusual way.