› › COLUMN> PHOTOSHOP USER>^ MARCH 2020[ 92 ]
In this picture of pelicans at
a California beach, I couldn’t get
them to cooperate and fly in a
perfectly symmetric formation. And
this pesky gull just had to try for his
slice of fame. What I wanted, how-
ever, was a visual rhythm and sym-
metry—evenly distributed weight
to give a sense of balance.
My choice of weight in this
case was value, so the dark birds
got repositioned to imply stages
of a pattern. This was augmented
by balancing an opposing dark
corner of the sky with a pair of
bright spots, one at the right hori-
zon line and one in the highlight
of the wave.
The value differences form a
three-point counter to the rhythm
of the birds in flight and also imply
a direction from darker to lighter.
I didn’t plan all of this when
I started retouching the photo,
though. I simply knew I wanted
the pelicans in a line, and then
I went at the composition in
passes. There was no magic tem-
plate, recipe, or map. I just kept
asking small questions about bal-
ance and weight, and let the pic-
ture develop (so to speak).While you’re working, apply your
vocabulary and look for how it
applies to what you see or want
to see. This is especially helpful
when you feel stuck on a piece, or
when something isn’t quite right,
but you can’t put your finger on it.
Review the image with a concept
in mind. If you come up blank,
choose another concept. Change
your definitions. Your mind is your
most powerful tool, just don’t let it
get in the way! nFinal versionMarked-up versionPelicans at Sunset by Scott Valentine, 2015