Golden Ratio Composition Tool

[xpatUSA]

For those of us who feel that the 'rule of thirds' is cheating, this link may be of interest:

http://photoinf.com/Golden_Mean/photo-adjuster.html

The nice thing is that you can upload your masterpiece and see how it fits. You can even adjust the margins. I uploaded an IR flower shot and here's how it looks:



The shot was originally composed and shot with no particular rules in mind. The tool shows that the main in-focus flowers should be lower and slightly to the left, bringing them into the Fibonacchi curve. Or, if my intent was to show the largest in-focus flower, my composition was accidentally spot-on That is to say, the center of that flower is very close to 0.618 of the width (towards the right) and very close to 0.618 of the height (towards the top).

[Venser]

Well, that's stupid. You can only tell after you upload the image.
I carry a large piece of acrylic around with taped markings to find out before I press the shutter. Inconvenient? Maybe. At least I can attempt to clone it out after I nail the shot.

[xpatUSA]

I carry a large piece of acrylic around with taped markings to find out before I press the shutter.

Personally, I carry one of theses around



http://www.goldennumber.net/golden-mean-gauge/

Remarkably cheap at US $109.95 plus $9.95 shipping & handling.

[NorthernFocus]

Let me guess, you guys are all engineers?

[tao2]

Ah use this...

[xpatUSA]

Ah use this...

Is that a Mark I?

[Slipper]

I've never "got" the Golden Ratio, I have a simple mind

[Shadowman]

PSE12 has that feature but I believe it is only utilized when cropping, however you don't have to complete the crop in order to visualize.

[IzzieK]

Thanks for the link Ted...another useful one for me. I have some templates but your look is better.

[tao2]

Is that a Mark I?

Hi Ted,

D'ye mean the cyclopic version?

Nah, the lens is the classic Gauss/Planar (6/4), brought tae perfection in the Helios 44 series lenses of the former Soviet Union.

The vitreous gel has been steadily replaced/replenished over the years by Morton's OVD rum.

Can't afford a Foveon sensor so stuck with Fovean.

Automatic iris and auto optics finish off a wonder of engineering....and No they're not full size at birth.

PS Ah do apologise for digressing fae the thread.

[Glenn NK]

Let me guess, you guys are all engineers?

Actually I don't think they are engineers (I am). I'd like to see what a digital camera would look like if engineers weren't involved in the technical aspects - it might be beautiful, but likely a bit useless.

These composition tools are in Lightroom; they are not only interesting, but possibly worth studying and trying out as they can provide some interesting compositions beyond the limited approach of the rule of thirds.

A bit of math (arithmetic is enough) is useful to understand and appreciate the Golden Rule, and Fibonacci numbers are relatively easy to understand. What's interesting about Fibonacci numbers is that they occur in the world of nature. The Fibonacci spiral is related to the Golden Spiral. In some plants, the spacings of leaves around a main stem have been found to follow the theory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci

Fibonacci has been credited with introducing the Hindu-Arabic numeral system (as opposed to the Roman numeral system which was a completely clumsy and useless numeral system) to Europe - which we all know is essential to our understanding of math, physics, and of course digital computations (digital cameras).

It's not just quirky engineering/mathematics, and apparently, it's not stupid at all.

Glenn

[xpatUSA]

This morning I had a look through the previous monthly competition winners, looking at those that appeared not to strictly follow the 1/3rd rule. Assuming that nobody conciously followed Golden rules, it was interesting that many points, areas and lines in the pics were quite close to Golden - arguably because they "looked right" to the photographer?

What does not right to me in the link I provided in the OP is the positioning of the Tool's Golden Spiral, maybe because it expects IE as the browser. So I just used the grid view to look at those pics. For areas, I used the estimated centroid's position relative to the grid intersections. For lines I stuck to horizontal and vertical.

This version works much better on my computer. Although the spiral still doesn't quite fill the picture height, it's close enough for it's purpose.

http://www.dcolegrovephotography.com...ion-guide.html
.

[NorthernFocus]

Actually I don't think they are engineers (I am). I'd like to see what a digital camera would look like if engineers weren't involved in the technical aspects ...It's not just quirky engineering/mathematics, and apparently, it's not stupid at all...

Just a bit of self deprecating humor? Didn't mean to strike a nerve

[xpatUSA]

PS Ah do apologise for digressing fae the thread.

Nae prroablem, Jimmy! Wull ye be gannin' ootside noo?

Pardon the attempt at Gorbals-speak

[jcuknz]

I think it is a load of old cobblers and the flower photo is on the right vertical third anyway ...unless you train your own version of Tao's to appreciate good stuff no amount of funny lines and curves helps though they may confirm what works..... maybe.

[xpatUSA]

I think it is a load of old cobblers and the flower photo is on the right vertical third anyway ...unless you train your own version of Tao's to appreciate good stuff no amount of funny lines and curves helps though they may confirm what works..... maybe.

Thank you for your friendly and amusing comments. Obviously you did not understand my post:

"The tool shows that the main in-focus flowers should be lower and slightly to the left, bringing them into the Fibonacchi curve."

By the way, the group of in-focus flower is centered very well on a 'golden' line but is certainly not, as you appear to claim, centered on the right vertical third:

[Glenn NK]

Thanks Ted - we'll talk more.

[xpatUSA]

I think it is a load of old cobblers and the flower photo is on the right vertical third anyway ...unless you train your own version of Tao's to appreciate good stuff no amount of funny lines and curves helps though they may confirm what works..... maybe.

Didn't understand that, by the way - what is "Tao's"?

[IzzieK]

Didn't understand that, by the way - what is "Tao's"?

I think he is referring the "seeing with the eye" thing...

[xpatUSA]

I think he is referring to the "seeing with the eye" thing...

Aha - that would be perhaps the well-known book Tao Te Ching written by Lao Tsu 2,500 years ago (I googled). Soon Teo goes on about it here:

http://tao-in-you.com/seeing-black-in-white/

Interestingly, there is a painting there quite relevant to this thread:



The bottom of the white bit is very close to the golden ratio (0.618) down from the top of the painting (and not really anywhere near 2/3 down).