The "Golden Ratio" Applied to Photography & Art

[alan_zinn]

<p>The need to be somehow spatially "balanced" would have to be millions of years in the making. That we have aesthetic sensibilities is likely a combination of natural selection factors that individually are unrelated to form. We are culturally <em>imprinted</em> with spatial conventions. Ours happens to be square for now. </p>

[Sanford]

<p>Maybe the ability developed out of a need to recognize something that didn't belong or look right in the landscape, like a Sabertooth Tiger.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Jeff's comment reminds me that I need to find my pica pole. It had a nice, whippy action.</p>

 

 

<blockquote>

<p>"I think it comes intuitively for most experienced photographers."</p>

</blockquote>

 

<p>This.</p>

<p>Awhile ago when this question came up on the beginner forum, James Dainis observed that when you look at the photos taken by folks who claim they don't bother with traditional rules for composition, their photos often fall right in line with those same compositional standards.</p>

 

 

<blockquote>

<p>"The Golden Ratio is not in the picture. It's in the brain."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>So true. The physical world provides all the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=hulu&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&source=hp&channel=np#hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&channel=np&sclient=psy-ab&q=examples%20of%20fibonacci%20numbers%20in%20nature&pbx=1&oq=examples%20of%20fibo&aq=2&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=11&gs_upl=330775l333684l5l336199l16l7l0l9l9l0l254l1407l0.4.3l16l0&gs_l=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=9699b23bffa1b841&biw=1148&bih=931&pf=p&pdl=300">examples naturally</a>. I suspect most of us just incorporate this unconsciously.</p>

 

[AlanKlein]

<blockquote>

<p>Maybe the ability developed out of a need to recognize something that didn't belong or look right in the landscape, like a Sabertooth Tiger.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Sanford; That really true. While I never discovered a tiger, I go nuts when my wife moves the furniture (or my photos) around. I know immediately that something is wrong. I can no longer find anything (like in the refrigerator) when she moves things to a different shelf. It drives me nuts. </p>

<p>So that's it. We have the Rules in photography from what is nature's method of keeping peace between husband and wife. :)</p>

[alan_zinn]

<p>Alan K.<br>

This pertains to our discussion in an amusing way:</p>

<p><a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/life/how-leaving-a-room-affects-your-memory.html">http://dsc.discovery.com/life/how-leaving-a-room-affects-your-memory.html</a></p>

<p>Ever wonder why you go to the kitchen and stand in front of the cookie jar, yet can't remember what you went there for?</p>

<p>"Orangutans are skeptical Of changes in their cages, And the zookeeper is very fond of rum."<br>

S&G "At the Zoo"</p>

<p> </p>