The Art of Composition: A Simple Application of Dynamic Symmetry

by Michel Jacobs

Excerpt from The Art of Composition



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Genres: Photography, Art

162 pages, Hardcover

Published April 18, 2018

Reviews

[Stuart Shafran · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea of dynamic symmetry is very interesting as a compositional aid and this book gives a very good introduction to the principals without going too heavily into the mathematics behind the geometry (except in the last chapter). However, I found it confusing in that I couldn’t see how to make best use of it in photography. In painting you could select a particular geometrical composition to use up front, but when photographing a particular scene you would need to choose a geometric composition that best matched the scene. This is possible using transparent overlays on the lcd screen, but due to the sheer number of potential possibilities it would be a fiddly means of composing the image. Unless you stuck to a few basic compositions. Overall this book is well worth reading for the background and principles of dynamic symmetry with plenty of examples given to complement the text.

[Rui Da silva pinto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice book, simple, easy and a joy to read. I suggest this to any photography lover, whether you use a phone, a simple point and shoot, a bridge camera or one with interchangeable lenses. It enables you to deconstruct why we prefer certain pictures photographs over other and aid you to construct more pleasing composition of your own.

[Hifza · Rating 1 out of 5]

This makes art extremely mechanical. Maybe some artists like that. Not for me.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This text by Jacobs presents some compelling designing tools. Probably the most useful is the graphic method to create Root 2, Root 3, Root 4 and so on. Yet for the more math minded, there is a final chapter that explains the calculations to make those same types of rectangles. There is also a very nice explanation of Phi and its easy application. Throughout the book Jacobs explains how the eye moves to points inside composition. There is similarity between dynamic symmetry and other design strategies such as the Rule-of-Thirds and the Rule-of-Diagonals. I really like Jacobs' illustrations and diagrams.