The Power Of Three

IMG class=”bracketarticleopen” src=”http://www.photo-natural.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid-bracket-left.gif”How-ToIMG class=”bracketarticleclose” src=”http://www.photo-natural.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid-bracket-right.gif”BRText Photography By Tom TillIMG border=”0″ src=”http://www.photo-natural.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid-lead.jpg” width=”645″ height=”400″ /IMGBR2) THREE SIMILAR SHAPESBRDouble Arch at dawn, Arches National Park, UtahBRIn this fish-eye view of Double Arch, I believe having three openings in the scene is more powerful than two or four. Why? It goes back to the enforced simplicity of three and the uncomfortable design of two. Balance is achieved by the use of three that wouldn’t be as easily accomplished by another number. Actually writing down what you were trying to accomplish in a composition, as I’m doing now, can be a helpful aid. The very act of this kind of appraisal helps clarify your intentions and access your successes and failures.BRFrom the Greeks, who worshipped the amazing properties of triangles, to The Three Stooges, the number three has had a special relationship with human perception, art, music, science, religion and every other field. Pythagoras called it the perfect number. Landscape and nature photographers are also immersed in a world of threes. We spend a great deal of time wrestling with the three-legged support for our cameras. The most widely quoted photography compositional rule, the Rule of Thirds, exists because most of our brains seem to respond more favorably to works of art with subjects based on odd numbers and placement of important forms on a grid created by dividing the scene in segments of three.PWhat is it about three that we like so much? It could be that, like a tripod, the power of three gives our compositions stability, and as importantly, simplicity. This small, odd prime number is easy to identify and manipulate. It helps avoid three hobgoblins of aspiring photographers: too much bald, featureless sky, subjects that are bull’s-eyed in the middle of the frame and compositions that include too much stuff./PPMost photographers are attuned to shapes and ideas that can help compositions like the Rule of Thirds: S-curves, diagonal lines, lead-in lines, framing, perspective and balance. Some time ago, I began to theorize that the number three could have a great more potential in photographic compositions than simply adhering to an elementary rule. Consciously and unconsciously, I now use the idea of three as much as I can. It doesn’t solve all my compositional problems, but it often adds power to parts or the totality of my overall scene./PPThe trick comes in using the power of three strongly and literally sometimes, and at other times, in a more subtle and understated way. Bracketing compositions is one of the great benefits of digital photography and is a great way to experiment with this technique./PPOnce you get the idea of three and its power implanted in your head, youll start to see it everywhere and figure out ways to use it./PPIMG border=”0″ src=”http://www.photo-natural.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid-1-sm.jpg” width=”181″ height=”230″1) TRIANGLEBRDelta Pool, near Moab, UtahBRTriangles are out there. You probably won’t find one every day as shapely as this one, but there are lots of opportunities where more subtle shapes from several elements may come together as a triangle. This triangle also points and leads the eye up and along the line of cliffs. Other important elements in the image include sidelighting and some subtle, but interesting clouds, all compositional techniques I use constantly./PPIMG border=”0″ src=”http://www.photo-natural.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wpid-3-sm.jpg” width=”189″ height=”230″3) THREE LUCKY EVENTSBROld Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, WyomingBRLuck has played so much of a role in my photographic work. Capturing three iffy events at the same time in the same place is unusual, but another example of the power of three. Also, trying to get a new take on a classic and iconic subject is always a huge challenge. Though I did know I was going to have a photographers full moon (usually the night before the astronomical full moon) and that it might somehow work with the eruption of Old Faithful and sunset, I couldn’t be sure. Old Faithful isn’t as faithful as it used to be, and much of the day was overcast. With clearing at sunset, all three events appeared on cue./PBR
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