By Math Dude
So, nature has bountifully embraced the golden ratio, artists have displayed its exquisite proportions, and now you might be wondering: Can I use it too? Absolutely. Here’s a quick and dirty tip for improving the composition of your photographs using the golden ratio!
First, when taking a picture, imagine placing the Fibonacci spiral on top of the scene you’re shooting. Then, the idea is to position the most important element of your shot—perhaps a person’s eyes—not at the overall center of the image, but at the off-centered eye of the Fibonacci spiral. It’s simple, but this technique really does make for more interesting pictures—search the web for examples and see for yourself.
This trick of using the golden ratio to lay out your image is related to the well-known “rule of thirds” you may have heard of. The idea here is to divide your image into thirds both horizontally and vertically, and then to place important elements at the intersections of these lines. The rule of thirds is really just a simplified version of the golden ratio method—after all, it’s a lot easier to mentally picture dividing an image into thirds rather than a Fibonacci spiral. Either way, if you follow this rule when taking your pictures, your friends will soon be begging you to teach them your secrets—and now you know the math to do it!
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