Essentially, it is said that the Rule of Thirds was designed as a simple way for photographers to locate the sweet spot, the point at which the human eye is first drawn to, of the Golden Ratio. The most common design principle applied in photography, the Rule of Thirds, is thought to be a manifestation of the Golden Ratio in photography.

Simply use it as a tool to guide you in achieving a strong composition, a way to complement your own creativity. Never let a design principle dictate how you photograph a scene. The beauty is these guides for composing an image are flexible and not limited to any one scene.Īs with all things in photography, experimentation and creativity are key factors. While the Fibonacci Spiral might work well when composing a portrait, for example, the Phi Grid might work well for a landscape. Each version has the potential to complement different scenes and can help to improve your overall image. There are no right or wrong versions of the Golden Ratio as a principle of design in composing a photograph, each is unique and can be applied as such. This results in a set of intersecting lines that are much closer to the middle of the frame. Instead of dividing the frame into equal thirds of 1:1:1, the Golden Ratio is applied to divide the frame into sections resulting in a grid that is 1:0.618:1. The Phi Grid looks very similar to the Rule of Thirds principle yet it has one very important difference. Spiral Overlay – Vancouver Art Gallery and Fairmont, Vancouver, Canada Canon 5D Mark II, 24 – 70mm 2.8 L series lens at 24mm, ISO 200, f/16, 1/60 sec. Using the spiral as a tool to compose a photograph will allow the viewer to be led around the image in a natural flow. The Fibonacci Spiral was created from a series of squares using Fibonacci’s numbers, with the length of each square being a Fibonacci number.Ī series of diagonal points on each square will then create a path for which the spiral can flow through the frame. This composition is known as the Fibonacci Spiral. a mathematician named Leonardo Fibonacci devised a series of numbers that will produce an aesthetically pleasing composition. It is said that sometime around the 12 th century A.D. Two of the most common compositions when applying it in photography are the Phi Grid and the Fibonacci Spiral. There are many interpretations of how we can use the Golden Ratio in photography. The Golden Ratio in Photography And The Fibonacci Spiral Photography is about creating something that is visually appealing, and using the Golden Ratio as a design principle is just one way we can achieve this. Your viewers do not want to work to see a beautiful photograph, they just want to see it. This is what we as photographers should strive for. The Golden Ratio will also allow your viewer be circuitously guided around your photograph. This will draw viewers to your photograph and ensure viewer-interest from the beginning. Using the Golden Ratio in photography as an element of design is a great way to achieve a strong composition in an organic way. In fact, the Golden Ratio has also been called ‘natures number’ because it is said to appear everywhere throughout nature, from the nautilus shell to the sunflower. We naturally prefer to look at an image that is balanced and harmonized, and the Golden Ratio provides this.įamous works of art such as the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and The Birth of Venus, among others, are all rumoured to have been composed based on the Golden Ratio. The reason for this is simple, the Golden Ratio allows for a composition that is perfectly balanced from a viewer’s perspective, creating a photograph that is most pleasing to the human eye. Phi Composition – Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park Canon 7D, 24 – 70mm 2.8 L series lens at 24mm, ISO 100, f/8, 1/80 sec. Hailed as ‘the perfect number’, the Golden Ratio can assist in creating images that have a strong composition, which will attract viewers to your photograph. It is a design principle based on the ratio of 1 to 1.618. The Golden Ratio has been used as a powerful composition tool for centuries. Learn what the Golden Ratio in photography is, how it compares to the Rule of Thirds and how to use it for photography composition.

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