CCC Forum

Hi Mike
A big thank you for a very interesting and informative talk last night.
I learnt a few new things and was reminded of a few more. For me I must remember to look at the whole image in my viewfinder and not just the subject, and think about how it works as a whole.
Once again many thanks.
Tina

Thanks for the feedback, Tina. It is good to know that you enjoyed the talk and got something out of it. As for not seeing the whole picture, we all do that from time to time especially when the subject is a fleeting one. The good thing is that if you consciously make the effort to look around the viewfinder before pressing the shutter, with practice it will become easier as it becomes instinctive.

Hi Mike,

Like Tina, i also learnt a lot from your talk on aspects of composition. I am familiar ( Like most club members ) with the rule of thirds and how it can be pleasing on the eye when the dominant object is on an intersection of one of the rule-of thirds. However, i had no knowledge of the lesser known golden ratio, or how to apply it into an image. Following your informative and very well presented talk i did a little research to gather additional information. It would appear that a certain Leonardo Fibonacci is credited with finding that objects within nature conformed to the same basic proportions that are pleasing to the human eye. This was in 1200AD ! so i am told.

With that in mind and observing your visual explanations i will try to retain this method in my memory for future use- circa 2018 !
Thanks Mike,

Michael.

Take a line and divide it into two (unequal) parts. Chose your dividing point to make the ratio of the short part to the long part the same as the ratio of the long part to the whole line. You have now split the whole line in the Golden Ratio. The ratio is about 1:1.61803398875. That is close enough to 1:1.5 (or 2:3) which the Rule of Thirds gives us.

I think Rule of Thirds works because it is an approximation to the Golden Ratio but I would love to do some tests to see which is more pleasing.

Graham C

gcluer wrote:The ratio is about 1:1.61803398875. That is close enough to 1:1.5 (or 2:3) which the Rule of Thirds gives us.

I think Rule of Thirds works because it is an approximation to the Golden Ratio but I would love to do some tests to see which is more pleasing.

Thanks, Graham, that is a useful summary of some of the things which I said during my talk. For me, precise application of the Rule of Thirds and other divisions which I demonstrated is not especially critical. The main function of such devices is to encourage placement of principle elements away from the centre of the image which usually creates a far more dynamic result.

Regarding the earlier comment about the relationship between the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci sequence, I am not sure that is what Leonardo Fibonacci set out to achieve, although the two are very close once 3+5=8 is reached. I suspect it is more of a coincidence than anything more significant, although that is an interesting philosophical question. The mathematical proof of the Golden Ratio was first set out by the Greek mathematician Euclid in "Elements", the book which he published in 323 BC. It is inconceivable that 1,500 years later Fibonacci would have been aware of the Golden Ratio and quite possibly Euclid's work as well. Even by Euclid's time, it is something which mankind had known about for a very long while ever since the earliest civilisations.

Thanks to Tina and Mike for their positive feedback on my presentation. I am currently writing a new lecture, which I will be giving at the club in February 2019, and it is my intention to expand on what I said this time around.