Examples of Interrelated Visual Balance and Motion
Visual balance and motion in photography often complement each other.
Balance and Motion Considered as Ideas to Contemplate
Balance and motion are fundamental concepts for photographic composition, but I think it’s important that I point something else out before I write about them per se. Balance and motion usually come about intuitively while shooting images. The photographer frames a shot because he knows it’s aesthetically appealing. He doesn’t stand there thinking about balance and motion and how to apply them to his picture.
I read so many articles that never point out the difference between learning at home and performing in the field, and it’s annoying because many people new to photography can feel overwhelmed. Believe me, photography is simple when you have developed a good eye. And indeed a good eye can be developed, in case you’re not happy with results you’re getting. It relies on doing your homework as an unavoidable essential, but it depends every bit as much on practice out there while shooting. If you’re the type that needs cheat sheets along, all the power to you, but they’re no substitute for having nothing between your eye and the shot but the lens and camera. I readily admit I have taken a few notes and stuffed them in my camera bag, because I’m a very forgetful sort, but I’ve forgotten the notes when I’ve needed them, too! Sometimes I forget settings I should have changed, as well, but between my eye and the image I seek is sacred space.
We’ll consider balance and motion primarily as interrelated concepts in a moment, but to make the point I just made again, these ideas exist to contemplate. Digest them so they become part of the makeup of your mind. Not as something to remember like a shopping list of things to apply in a mechanical way.
And regarding the interrelatedness of balance and motion, a concept coined by Jon Brock, dynamic balance, is especially interesting because he describes it as “a combined sense of balance, order, harmony and energy.” I touch upon all four elements in this post, though I’m particularly interested in the critique of a handful of my photos in terms of balance and motion.
I think of balance as even more fundamental than motion, because effective motion in an image often depends on balance, while balance can almost stand alone, as it seems to in the image below.
It would seem balance stands alone in this image, but notice that the boat’s directional leaning suggests its moving slowly.
Notice that the fisherman’s leaning backwards on the support, just barely in the upper third of the image space—to harp on the rule of thirds—places the boat in the center as if to unite him with the forward-tilting outboard in the lower third. A sense of harmony exists, as if the image, rather than capturing a moment in time, is timeless. We think of image resolution being a technical matter that can be measured, and yet the resolution a viewer feels in response to a composition that works is more important yet. That subjective resolution is all the important elements of a composition coming together as a whole that resonates with the viewer.
And yet, especially if you see the rod the fisherman’s left hand is engaged with, you feel the sense of the image happening differently. Right now. A sense of motion also accompanies the boat’s directional leaning, though a sense of very slow motion.
Look at the colors. Then notice the reflections on the water. A lot goes on there, as if colors conveyed by both horizontal and vertical forms exist as some mysterious code. And perhaps they do, as altogether they build a foundation for the upper two thirds of the image, forming an asymmetrical balance.
Color is an attribute of balance. It can be of motion, too. I got lucky to find the fisherman wearing an orange-brownish T-shirt that goes along with the color of the wood and is related to the yellow, not to mention that his boat has an orange-brown stripe. But have another look at the waverunner in the top photo. If it were blue, it wouldn’t stand out as it does. It wouldn’t take position in the center, complementing the blue of the water, with such bold balance as that vivid yellow does. The yellow, however, does not increase the sense of the vehicle’s speed. It draws attention to itself—away from the spray conveying motion. Despite the waverunner’s being balanced in the photo’s center, that bright yellow may give you the awkward sense of stasis.
That stasis is a curiosity. The waverunner and its motion seem juxtaposed. I’m not saying that makes it a bad photograph, but it does make it an interesting one.
Hard Motion
I think of sports. Or waterfalls that aren’t shot at low shutter speeds for that blurred effect so typical of waterfall images. Ocean waves. Other examples of hard motion exist. Have a look at another waverunner shot.
Catching it just right seems to’ve depended on the operator’s head.
The fact that the waverunner is black and blue allows for greater visual emphasis on the spray.
As you can see, the form of the spray—giving the image balance as well—strongly conveys a sense of forward motion. So does the waverunner’s slight elevation over the lake’s surface, as if it’s gaining distance by leaps and bounds. It certainly was; the image is realistic in that sense, but have you ever seen a waverunner perform quite like this? It happens too fast to gain the appreciation a photograph allows of you by freezing all that motion. You can barely make out the operator’s head at the forward point of the spray. He leads the action forward so subtly, you might not see he’s there until you look sharp.
How you crop an image will affect its balance, and in the case of the photo above, especially the forward motion inherent to the image. Allowing a little forward space between the right edge of the photo and the nose of the waverunner lets the viewer feel the rider and his vehicle are getting somewhere, especially since the vehicle is slightly elevated over the water’s surface. And settling upon one cropped version of a photo need not be final. I can see plainly that allowing more water at the bottom of the image could have worked well, too, giving it better balance by a division of image elements into thirds, but for now, I want to emphasize motion.
Color has an awful lot to do with the photograph. If the waverunner were yellow or red, to give a couple of examples, the image would not have worked nearly as well for emphasizing motion.
The background, too. I made sure not to bring out much of what’s in shadow, though I allowed for just a little of the trees.
Instead of motion being conveyed by the shortest distance between two points, it sometimes needs a little help from its friends. A flow without rocks may move, but with less drama.
Sometimes we think of motion too simply. As if it’s just the shortest distance between two points, when, in fact, complications between point A and point B can emphasize it. Notice in the photo above that the boulders in the river introduce vertical-leaning elements to an otherwise horizonal flow. Motion is made elegant by balance within its course.
Especially the rocks in the upper third of the photo, the most vertical portions of motion, slow the sense of speed and draw the eye to them to experience a complex feeling of variegated flow.
Also, the rocks in the upper third of the photo are more numerous and smaller than those of the lower third, which balances neatly, almost in the form of a triangle.
As I say, don’t overburden yourself with ideas when you’re out shooting. If you’ve read my post, you’re doing your homework. If you want to study harder, there are plenty of sites that go into greater detail about aspects of balance or motion. My post is meant to make things easy for you, to get a sense for balance and motion that might not be lost on a beginner. What you learn by reading about photography becomes “instinctual” through familiarity with the ideas. Rather than rack your brains while you’re afield, focus on subject matter itself and let it draw your eye to the best shots.
That is important. I think, too often, we’re over-hasty in framing shots. Subtlety matters. Try to frame each shot you take perfectly. Giving the moment of composition your full attention, that “mindfulness” so often spoken of by those who practice yoga and the like, is an important habit to cultivate.