Why does each of these arrangements settle the eye or unsettle it? Sort them into the two columns.
Groups: Reads as stable · Reads as unstable
- A horizon placed exactly across the middle of the frame
- The subject pressed hard into one corner
- A symmetrical arrangement about the vertical axis
- A strong diagonal running from corner to corner
- A pyramid composition standing on a broad base
Hints
- Symmetry and a wide base settle a picture; diagonals and corners unsettle it.
- A gaze with nowhere to go is a tension, not a repose.
Show the answer
Reads as stable: A horizon placed exactly across the middle of the frame, A symmetrical arrangement about the vertical axis, A pyramid composition standing on a broad base
Reads as unstable: The subject pressed hard into one corner, A strong diagonal running from corner to corner
The two columns are tools rather than grades. A photograph of a funeral usually wants the left column and a photograph of a riot usually wants the right, and the frequent mistake is to reach for tension because it looks like effort, an unstable arrangement of an uninteresting subject is still an uninteresting picture.
Practise Form and Composition
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