The Art of photography

Principles:MakingDesign

Work

Balance

Somepicturesachievetheir

effectswith

veryformalandobviouslybalancedde-

signs

—

animagewith

identicalhalves,

forinstance.Otherphotographshavea

subtler,asymmetrical

balanceproduced

byinteractionsofvisualcomponents.

Balanceneednotdependon

matching

sizesorshapes.Instead,itmayresult

fromtherelativeweightthe
photographer

accordseachpictorialingredient.Pictori-

alelementsachievevisualweight

—and

demandviewerattention

—

accordingto

size,color,locationorinterest.
Andthese

demandsmayadduptoequilibriumby

perceptualcalculationsalmost
impossi-

ble
toexplaininwords.Butnomatter

howbalanceisachieved,it
evokesa

sensation
ofstabilityandcomfortinthe

viewer—andthisresponse

maywellsuit

thephotographer'spurposes.

Bothofthepictureson

thesepages

are
asymmetricallybalanced.Inthepho-

tographofthehousebehind
thefenceat

right,
equipoisehasbeenestablishedby

ingeniouslyplayingoffsize
againstvisual

interest.
Almostallofthepictureistaken

jpbythefence.Buttheold-fashioned,

angular
houseismuchmoreintriguing

:hanthefence,whichisblank
exceptfor

a
wavelikechalkline.Thissize-versus-

nterestrivalryfortheviewer's

attention

3ndsin
astandoffthatisstablebutdefi-

nitelynotstatic.

Atleft,visible

throughaNewYorkCity

apartmentwindow,isafrieze
ofsilhouet-

ed

skyscraperslackingthevisualweight

omatchthedarkshadowsofCentral

D
arkinthe
foreground.Butasthesun

slicedacrossthewindowframeitturned

alonebuilding
onthehorizonintoa

gleamingwhitespire.Thissinglesun-

strucksurface
wasallthatwasneededto

counterbalancetheshadowsdominating

heforeground.