1. Elements in Photography Focus: Balance
“Balanced”
Static/dynamic

2. Balance What is balance in photography?
If you place every element of interest in a photograph on one side or another, or more commonly by the beginners in the center of the image, you are leaving little or nothing to look at on the opposite side.
This will be a unbalanced and most likely an uninteresting image.
Symmetry and Balance are one of the most important Elements in photography

3. Without the wagon wheel to balance the two sides of the picture you would be left with too much empty space or the girl would look as if she were falling off the edge of the picture

4. Formal Balance Or Symmetrical
As the name suggest it is when one or more identical or similar subjects are repeated symmetrical on each sides of a given point.
The formal balance is most often recognized by subjects that are uniform in shape.
There are basically two types of balance in photography. The first is Formal or symmetrical balance

5. You do not have to have the identical object on both halves of the picture to have a formal balance

6. Symmetrical
When a photo is largely symmetrical, it’s easy to see the balance, but obvious balance is somewhat boring
If you divide the photo in half, you can place objects in different parts of the scene to make the photo appear balanced or unbalanced. . I like the photo below, but if it relied purely on the image’s balance, it would have been boring.

8. Informal Balance
Informal balance is less obvious because the subjects are not uniform.
Example:
If you have a large object in the image it should be counter balanced with a smaller object or objects to make a good composition.
If you have flower appearing large in the foreground on the right side of the frame you can balance it with two or more smaller flowers on the left side. It does not need to be flowers on the left side, but anything that naturally balances the image.
The second type, informal balance or so called asymmetrical balance is when one or more dissimilar elements are balancing on each side of a given point. A well made image using informal balance is more appealing to the viewer compared to a symmetrical composed image. Use of asymmetrical balance is more challenging and requires more artistic skill and training to do well compared to symmetrical composition.

9. Asymmetrical
Along with placement, we have size and visual weight, which can balance the photo, depending on the positioning.
For example, you may have a small and a large object, which would be impossible to balance at equal distances from the center of the photo, but if you place the smaller object to the far edge of the frame and the larger object slightly off center then the balance becomes a lot better resolved – just like it would be in real life with actual weights on a scale.

10. The large sheep in the foreground is balanced by the smaller looking tree to the other side of the shot.

12. Radial Balance
This is when all the elements of the design “radiate” from a center point in a circular fashion.
Radial balance is a great way to lead the eye into the focal point in the center.
There is also a third type of balance in photography – radial balance.

14. Rearranging the elements can also make the wanted effect.

15. Good Balance?
Balance when composing an image requires the correct combination of colors, shapes, and areas of light and dark that complement each another.
By looking at your subject and capture it from different viewpoints, angles or even at different lighting, you can composed a balanced image.
How can you achieve a good balance in photography? It is easier than it appears and a lot of practice will help.

16. How to use it in Photographs
Balance is at the base of every composition; it determines whether the photo is pleasing and harmonious to look at, or rather uncomfortable and unresolved. If you look at balance in a literal sense, a very basic analogy comes to mind which is that or the weighing scales.
This is an example of asymmetrical balance

17. Techniques Light against dark.
Black against white has a much stronger contrast than gray against white.
Important techniques you must know when balancing your composition. To balance gray against white you need a larger gray area to compensate compared to if you used black.

18. Color
Small areas of vibrant color can be balanced to larger areas of more neutral colors

19. Space
Open space can be balanced on one side with the primary subject on the other side of the image

21. Large against small
Sometimes larger elements on one side of the image can be balanced by a smaller element that is positioned by itself at the far end of the other side of the image.

23. Shape
Large flat areas without much detail can be balanced by smaller irregularly shaped objects since the eye is led towards the more intricate shape. This is a very tricky type of asymmetrical balance that often ends up looking out of balance.

25. Texture
Smaller areas with interesting textures (variegated light and dark, or random fluctuations) can balance larger areas with smoother, untextured looks

26. Eye Direction
Your eye can be led to a certain point in a picture by using elements like triangles or arrows or as simple as the eye is led in the direction the people in a picture are looking.

27. Unbalance
Balance is good to have in some photos, but if you want to make your images a little more interesting, unbalanced photos help to attract the viewers attention.
Unusual placement of a single object, dynamic tension, and single leading lines all help to unbalance a photo as they produce a feeling of unresolved tension like in the photo below.

28. Balance is of course much more complicated then just weighing out a couple objects in a photo, it’s uncommon for you to actually see two objects sitting on a solid base, other than architecture.
The weighing scale analogy is good for explaining the basics, but when it comes to the majority of photography, it’s much more complicated and there’s a lot less rules.

29. Your Assignment You will choose 6 subjects
3 Symmetrical
3 Asmmetrical
Take 5 shots of each subject (Total of 30 shots)
You need 2 different points of view for each subject
Reflections should include how you achieved balance in your photo and what techniques you use to do it.
How does your point of view help balance your photo?