Composition: Horizon Variations and the Golden Section

Activity 1: Point Placement

The first exercise we did was point placement on a grid sheet of paper. We put dots all over the page so that each of the horizontal and vertical distances to the paper's edges were different. We utilized the Principle of Unequal Spacing in this example. We did this to show that "varied measurements around points of interest tend to heighten the visual interest and energy of the piece and convey a sense of creativity" (Krause 19). This principal allows one to see the more aesthetically pleasing side of a piece rather than staring at it head on. It offers a new way to look and experience something. 

Activity 2: Horizon Variations

Here, we demonstrated the effectiveness of the division of space. It can draw attention to something, or pull us away depending on how you use it. In the first case, we attempted to draw attention to the road's horizon.

The original picture looked like this:   Nothing stood out at this perspective. The road and sky were pretty much equal in distance making it boring to look at, and if you focused straight at the picture there was too much clutter with signs and telephone polls.

We were then challenged to focus more on the road, and my resulting picture looked like this: By cropping the picture it emphasized what the driver might see making it: more focused, more appealing, and by effect I felt as if I was the one driving the car and seeing what I might see if I was actually there.

 

Our next challege was to focus on the sky horizon. The original picture looked like this: This picture was similar to the other original in that there isn't much focus here. It doesn't spark an interest with any one of my senses because of the generalized overview it presents.

I then changed the picture to focus on the sky horizon: I again used the crop tool in Photoshop to draw attention to the upper portion of the picture. This allows my imagination to think deeper into the meaning of the sky, why it was the center of this piece? This is much more pleasing in every sense than the original. It has a purpose.

Activity 3: The Golden Section

The Golden Section was defined by Krause "as an aesthetically pleasing division of space that is often used by artists as the basis for measurements within their composition" (34).  It was then described as a cult-like tool because of how many people have actually acquired the use of this tool over the years.

Our next challenged was to replicate a Golden Section ruler of our own:

 

 We used Photoshop to design a rectangle picture to look like a  13 inch ruler that was divided unequally. One section is 8", and one section is 5" approximately. The ruler divides like this to tie in the overarching theme of unequal spacing. Unequal is more pleasing than equal in most cases. This ruler will help in all of my future design placements as I move forward this semester.