A thought:
Perhaps composition is all about ratios, proportions, relativity.
For example with human physique, it’s all about proportions:
For example for men it is generally more attractive for men to have a more “Triangle” or “V” taper:
The top of your shoulders are wider than your waist.
Why do proportions matter?
My theory is that proportions (at least for human physique) has to do about physiological health, strength, and fitness.
Proportions in art
I think there is some natural human predilection for certain proportions, because these proportions are derived from the human body.
My theory:
The notion of the ‘golden ratio‘ is probably derived from whatever is human.
For example, there has been a funny study that suggests that human skull dimensions are the ‘golden ratio’.
Of course we might be ‘fooled by randomness’ [Nassim Taleb], but the thing which is interesting to me is this:
Perhaps the ultimate beauty is human beauty.
For example, no matter how beautiful a sports car is designed, it will never be as beautiful as the female body. No matter how well a watch is designed, it will never be as beautiful as a male body.
Which makes me wonder:
Why are we so obsessed about design objects (fashion, cars, watches, purses, etc) — and not as obsessed about the beauty of the human form?
In praise of Richard Avedon
To me, one of the greatest photographer-artists of all time is Richard Avedon. Why? He knew that the apex beauty was the human being: the human form, the human face, etc.
This is also a great case for portrait and street/humanistic photography.
If you compared the most beautiful tree or nature photograph with the most beautiful human photo, the human photograph will always be 1000x more interesting.
Once again:
There is nothing more beautiful than the human body, the human form, or anything human.
Practical ideas
So if we assert that there is nothing more beautiful than the human body, then I suggest to photograph more humans you consider beautiful!
- Photograph your loved ones
- Photograph beautiful strangers [street photography]
- Photograph your selfie