Fibonacci Spiral Photography Composition Tips

The Fibonacci Spiral: one of the best compositional tools we have as photographers:

The Huawei P20 Pro Phone camera has the Fibonacci Spiral composition tool built in, which makes this way easier and more fun. This feature alone can make the purchase of the phone worth it.

Anyways, the idea of the Fibonacci Spiral is simple:

We see the spiral shape in nature. Thus, perhaps there is some inherent beauty in the proportions of the Fibonacci Spiral. 

For myself, I see the use of the Fibonacci Spiral to be:

  1. Consider the proportions of the visual elements in your frame. 
  2. Make your compositions more dynamic by integrating a spiral into your photos. 
  3. Think curves

Fibonacci Spiral composition tips

Processed with VSCO with preset

To integrate the Fibonacci Spiral into your photography composition, here are some simple tips:

  1. Tilt your camera to connect the diagonal tail of the spiral into the corner of your frame. 
  2. Your photo doesn’t need to fit the Fibonacci Spiral perfectly. It is just a guide. 
  3. Analyze your photographs after you shoot them, with using the Fibonacci Spiral as an Overlay.

Fibonacci Spiral Overlay in Lightroom

In Lightroom, you can analyze your compositions for the Fibonacci Spiral by:

  1. Going to the “Develop” module,
  2. Pressing hotkey “R” for crop mode
  3. Hotkey “O” to put on the overlay for Fibonacci Spiral.
  4. Then you can press “Shift+O” to change the orientation of the Fibonacci Spiral. 

Composition is fun! To me, to frame and compose a photograph is half the fun of photography.

Treat composition like playing.

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