The Art of photography

Principles:

MakingDesignWork

balancedor

unbalanced.Onepartmayappeartobedominantandtheothers

subordinate.Theirrelativeamounts—

theproportions—ofcolor,bulkorany

othercharacteristicmayseemfamiliaror

surprising.Theseparatepartsofthe

imagemightappeartogroupthemselvesintoasingle

configuration,suchasa

triangleor

circle.Ortheymightsetupavisualcounterpartofthe

rhythmthatis

associatedwithmotionand

sound.Andeveniftherewereonlyone

elementin

thephotograph,itssize,toneandposition

intheframewouldstirsomeassoci-

ationsandcomparisonsintheviewerandevoke

mentalrelationships.

Whyarehumanbeingssoresponsivetosuchvisualforcesandrelation-

ships?Manyexplanationshavebeenoffered.Theimpulsetointerconnectvi-

sualingredientssothat

theywillhavemeaningis,perhaps,abasicfunction

ofintelligence.Wesurvivebyconstantlytryingtoorganizeand

makesense

outofwhatwesee,identifyingandassessingvisualdatafordangers,foodor

whatever.Whenweseeamanrunninginthestreetwemaymerelybecu-

rious;

but

ifwerelatehimtoafollowingrunnerdressedinablueuniform,the

visualdataacquirenewmeaning,andcuriositymay

change

to

alarm.Why

weseekcertainmeanings,searchingapictureforparticularrelationships

suchasbalanceorrhythm,hasbeenexplainedtoadegreeinphysiological

terms.Astwo-footedcreatureswhohavetogothroughatrickyperiodof

learning

tostanduprightandwalk,humansmight

well

be

expected

to

react

tobalance,feelingcomfortablewhenitispresentanddisturbedwhen

itis

absent.Peopleappreciateregularrhythm,perhapsbecauseoftheinspiration

ofthecountlessrhythmsthatappearinnature—theheartbeat,thealternation

ofnightand
day,

thepulseofthewaves

and

thephasesofthemoon.Butthese

physiological

preferencesmaybelessexplanatory,many

psychologists

be-

lieve,thanthegeneralmethodofoperationofthehumanbrain,whichseems

alwaystoseektoorganizevisualdataintothemostsimple,regularandsym-

metricalconfigurationspossible.

Allthesetheoriesmay

possessameasure

oftruth.Andthey

pose

anin-

triguingpossibilityinthematterofdesign.Ifthebrain,forwhateverreasons,

likesunity,regularity,goodbalanceandsteadyrhythms,whynotarrange

theingredientsineverypictureinawaythatprovides theserelationships

andnothing else?Theanswerusuallygivenisobvious:Inaddition
to

the

need

forclarity,

orderandbalance,thereisalsoaneedforstimulation

—which

canbesuppliedinpicturesbyelementsofvarietyandtension.By

thisreasoning,theidealdesignisonethatisclear,orderlyandbalanced

—

butnotintooobviousaway.Itshouldbeprecariousandvaried

enoughto

beinteresting,butnot
so

precarious

astobe

irritating.

Yeteventhismore

complexformulafailson
closeinspection.Itwouldsacrificeagreatdealof

the
expressivepowerofdesign.Forinstance,anunbalancedstructuremight

wellbethebestdesignforapicturewhoseintentistodisturb.Strangepro-