The Golden Ratio in Digital Photography

The rule of thirds is a widely accepted aesthetic principle that is one of the long standing rules of photography. It basically says that you will get a much more aesthetically pleasing image if you place the subject of your photo a third of the way across the frame instead of in the center of the frame. This is a simplified form of the principle of the Golden Mean or Golden Ratio. But what is the Golden Mean or the Golden Ratio? If line A is divided into two sections, one larger than the other (B and C), the golden ratio is achieved where A/B = B/C, which is 1.6180339887...

In photography we talk about a Golden Rectangle, in which the ratio of the longer side to the shorter one turns out to be the golden ratio. In the 12th century, Fibonacci produced a series of numbers by adding together pairs of numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 etc (each number is created by adding together the two previous numbers). It turns out that the ratio between each successive pair of numbers gets closer and closer to the Golden Ratio. If you start dividing a Golden Rectangle by the Golden Ratio (represented by the Greek letter PHI) you can keep sub-dividing it down infinitely and joining the corners of the successive rectangles produces a logarithmic Golden Spiral which exactly matches the growth of the Nautilus sea shell . A photograph whose composition follows this idea seems to be visually harmonious.

Ideally, you need to start off with a "canvas" that is a golden rectangle; this is often a little impractical because these rectangles are a little too wide (or tall) for many shots. If you roughly duplicate the path of the Golden Spiral in your photographs though, it will increase your odds of getting appealing results.

Using the Golden ratio forms a fluid line for the eye to trace through the picture, where the Rule of Thirds is more static. Your viewer's gaze will invited along the line of the spiral which creates a more symmetrical visual flow and a compelling experience. You want to place the subject (or focal point) of your photograph in the tightest end of the spiral, and the other elements of the picture should roughly follow the path of the spiral. The Golden Spiral can be rotated in the frame or transposed from top to bottom so you can create more variety when you are composing pictures.

This idea is best suited for landscape photography where the lines are long and dramatic but it can also be effective in close-ups and portraits. Once you understand the basic form of the Golden Spiral, this idea becomes intuitive and thus easy to apply. You don't need difficult mathematical calculations to produce an compelling picture.

Taking pictures using the Golden Spiral is a more fluid and visually compelling way to structure your photos than the more static Rule of Thirds. With practice this method becomes intuitive. It will create a more symmetrical visual flow, especially in landscape photography. Have fun experimenting with it!

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Find The Best Digital SLR For You - Part I

What is the best digital SLR camera?

Is there one that clearly stands above the rest in terms of features, innovations or price?

If you compared every single camera side by side, would it be completely obvious which one was superior?

I'm afraid that the answer is a definite no.

While not all digital SLR cameras are created equal, they are all very similar.

The good news is that there is a way for you to pick the best digital SLR, even with a lot of cameras competing for your hard-earned dollars.

What Is an SLR?

First, it's important to understand what a digital SLR is, and how it differs from a compact digital camera.

SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex, and the defining feature of an SLR camera is that you can change the lenses. On a compact digital, the lens is permanently attached to the camera.

You take photos with an SLR by looking through the viewfinder since it shows you what the lens sees. With a compact digital, you usually take photos by looking at the LCD on the back of the camera.

SLRs are notable for their speed, and they respond instantly. Most compact digitals take several seconds to turn on and have a slight delay every time you take a photo.

SLRs are quite capable of taking photos even when there isn't a lot of available light. Compact cameras have a tough time focusing and slow down even further when the lighting is dim.

SLR Feature Overload

You're interested.

You've decided that your compact digital is just not living up to your expectations, or you're making the switch from film to digital.

Either way, you are now confronted with camera comparison confusion.

There has been explosive growth in the digital SLR market over the past two years, and it shows no signs of letting up.

This growth introduces no less than 10 new camera models per year, each one quite similar to the other.

While you can attempt a feature-by-feature comparison of every camera on the market, this is a time-consuming task that can lead to severe eye strain and a splitting headache.

AHA! you think. I know an easy way out of this. All I need to do is find the best bargain.

Don't Be Cheap

If you wanted a digital SLR several years ago, you had to be prepared to take out a second mortgage.

Today the price range for digital SLR cameras is compressed - most of them cost between $500 and $700.

This is a huge improvement, but $500 is still a chunk of change.

So why not just find the cheapest camera and go with that? The cheapest digital SLR camera may be missing the one feature that you'd most like to have.

But how do you determine which features you'd most like to have?

I'll explain that in part 2 of this article.