Our month of traditional compositional technical study continues. This week, it's the golden triangle. If you'd like to geek out on the math, check out some info on the golden ratio to see the fundamentals of the concept.
However, to offer a basic explanation, we are using the same aesthetic notions that we did with the rule of thirds, but this time, our goal is to create diagonal lines in our images to form isosceles triangles. Points of interest in the image should lie along diagonals and at the intersecting points of the triangles in order to create a dynamic image and lead the eye around the frame. Creating one triangle is relatively simple. Creating two is more of a challenge.
I am having a terrible time articulating how this works so I have also included a screen shot of the Golden Triangle overlay offered as a cropping tool in Lightroom. The lines are faint, but in this image, the angles created by the table, my son's gaze and reach, and my father's bent arm all form triangles within this image, giving it a dynamic flow.
In the second image, there is a clear triangle created by the road and building leading to the city skyline, but there isn't really a second triangle on the right. WIthout that second ancillary visual diagonal, it lacks the complexity of my first shot.
Head over to Who We Become to see the angles we found this week.