Make Photo Art: How to Improve Your Photos Through Balance
A huge iceberg in the shape of a submarine on Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon in Iceland.
Balance is a key element of composition that you can use to make photo art in your own fine art photography practice. Here’s how to incorporate a sense of balance into your own photos that will help you make photo art featuring more cohesive and harmonious compositions.
This photo was made on a midnight zodiac cruise I arranged at the spectacular Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon in southern Iceland.
While big, the iceberg in the above photo is neither as attractive as some I photographed in Antarctica nor as huge as many I photographed near the tourist town of Ilulissat in Greenland.
This particular iceberg was also quite some distance away. To make an interesting image I knew I’d need to rely on composition, in particular the notion of balance, to save the day.
I remember getting down as low as I could in the zodiac and positioned my camera in such a way so as to produce a mirror like image. This simple technique allowed me to emphasise the importance of the water and the sense of three dimensional space with the bounds of a two dimensional image.
You'll notice the repetition of the clouds, both warm and cool, and of the iceberg mirrored in the water. A 50/50 placement of the horizon added to the sense of balance and harmony I was seeking to convey.
What Makes A Good Photo?
I made the image on a full frame Canon camera with a Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS L series lens at a focal length of 70 mm.
The fact that the zodiac was moving slowly at the time allowed me to choose a relatively modest camera sensitivity of ISO 800 to deliver a shutter speed of 1/320 second which was sufficient to eliminate camera shake in the relatively subdued lighting under which I was photographing.
I employed an aperture of f/8 to achieve optimal sharpness and a relatively large depth of field.
Actually t’s a very simple image. Not the best photo I've made of an iceberg, but well worth the effort. I’d say the success of this image is based upon the following criteria:
Good composition
The preparedness to be out and about when most folks would be snuggled up asleep.
I love to sleep and to eat. However, when I have a camera in my hands, my motivation is such that I’m able to go without either sleep or food for extended periods of time.
Staying up all night and wandering around, in the elements, simply doesn’t faze me. When there are photos to me made there’s simply no stopping me.
Jökulsárlón: A World Of Ice and Water
Jökulsárlón provides the visitor with a magnificent and very accessible adventure into the natural world.
Due to the massive amounts of ice that carve off the glacier and drift towards the sea, less than a kilometre from the car park, Jökulsárlón is a great place for photography.
Photographing from a zodiac is great fun and I’ve written a special post about making photos from a zodiac inflatable boat which you’ll find really interesting.
While the zodiac cruise is a blast and allows you to wiz around the icebergs and photograph them from a range of angles and distances, there's still plenty of opportunities to make great photos standing on the bank and watching icebergs, of all shapes and sizes, float by.
Photographing Icebergs In Changing Light
Due to the large number of icebergs moving across the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon the scene is ever changing. You’ll find lots of opportunities for great photos as the light and (quiet likely) weather changes throughout the day.
Traditionally great landscape photos are made at the edges of the day: either side of sunrise or sunset when the light is softer; warmer; and the edges of the shadows, which determine local transitions from light to dark, are less pronounced.
If you’re looking to make great images of the natural world photographing early or late in the day is, weather permitting, a recipe for success.
When the sun comes out you’ll find a polarizing filter really useful to reduce the likelihood of color and texture from being reflected off the surface of icebergs and water.
Photographing with the sun behind you will emphasize the color of the icebergs while side lighting will highlight their shape and texture.
Depending upon the kind of image you want to make, and the light you find yourself working under, you may want to move around the edges of the lagoon to ensure you have the optimal direction of light when photographing from the shoreline.
Balance and harmony in this reflection of icebergs at Fjallsarlon Lagoon, Iceland.
Reflections Showcase Balance and Harmony
Photography is at least as much about light as it is about subject. So to make great photos you need to try to be there when the light is right.
Light and water partner very well together in landscape and nature photography. By providing a surface onto which elements of the landscape are mirrored water allows you to abstract important geographic and compositional elements within the image frame.
Reflections certainly add a greater sense of harmony and cohesion to an image and really enhance the notion of balance within the composition.
Reflections are an important element within this image of icebergs at Fjallsarlon Lagoon in Iceland. As you can see the light was overcast and the weather a little bleak.
I did my best to frame the image in such a way that the largest icebergs, situated on either side of the frame, balance each other. I also included areas of water and sky on the top and bottom of the frame to achieve a similar effect.
As you can see, while featuring icebergs, water and clouds, this image is really a study in composition that’s underpinned very much by the notion of balance and harmony.
Balance in photography explored in a pile of colorful barrels in Bali.
Exploring Balance in Photography
What do you think of this pile of barrels, stacked on top of each other by the side of the road, in Bali, Indonesia?
It’s certainly not the typical kind of photo you’d expect to see featuring this beautiful and popular tourist mecca.
That made the whole process of making the photo so much fun. I remember smiling with glee as I composed the image in my camera’s viewfinder.
But what’s the photo about and why did I make it in the first place?
While the objects depicted are barrels this photo is really a study in composition. It was composition, particularly the notion of balance, and not a pile of barrels that I was thinking of when I made this image.
Looking a little deeper you could say the image is structured around the following elements of composition:
Balance
Color
Shape
Repetition
Symmetry
Repetition brings balance to this niche at Novedinchy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
It’s interesting that those same elements of composition are also present in this photo of a niche at the lovely Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
Composition isn’t hard. If you’re interested in improving the composition in your own photos it’s worthwhile taking the time to identify the major elements of composition and take the time to notice them in your favourite photos, whether they’re made by you or someone else.
Before you know it you’ll find yourself incorporating these same elements of composition in your own photos, almost without thinking.
Finding Balance Through Composition
I hope the photos in this post prove that there’s more than one way to approach the photos you make.
We all try hard to make beautiful photos that document the people, places and events that make up your life.
But for your photography to become art it’s important to improve your understanding and of composition.
Beyond that you need to find a way by which your photos explore your own, persona experience of the world around you.
Making photos that allow your own unique and authentic self is central to this experience.
I hope you can see the advantages great composition can contribute to the success of your own photos.
