Balance in photography is observed when an image has subject areas that look balanced throughout the composition. It is achieved by shifting the frame and juxtaposing subjects within it so objects, tones, and colors are of equal visual weight. An image has balance when subject areas command a viewer’s attention equally.
Why Is Balance Important in Photography?
When it comes to balance, photography is very demanding. Even the most beautiful subject matter and highest image quality can’t hide an unbalanced composition. And the mistake isn’t visible just to the expert eye of a critic. It is visible to anyone looking at your photograph, even if not everyone understands where it comes from. A certain discomfort, unpleasantness, or indifference will disturb the viewer.
The aesthetic isn’t the only aspect that suffers from a lack of balance. Without balance, photography is reckless, chaotic, and unpredictable. The viewer’s attention will go to the most impactful element and remain there. The imbalance will take the focus away from the narrative or story of the image and won’t deliver the message you intended.
The entire purpose of composition photography is to make sure the viewer explores all the areas of the photo and receives the message you embedded into the picture.
How Does Balance Affect Composition?
Using balance in photography means composing the frame so that all its elements have a more equal power in the composition. However, the first step is decomposing the scene into elements and mentally granting them weight and meaning.
From a visual point of view, you can consider the image a collection of shapes, lines, textures, colors, highlights, and shadows. From a conceptual point of view, you can consider the image a collection of objects, contrasts, actions, and feelings.
When you want to incorporate balance in photography, you have to decide the relationships between elements. You can’t just compose a frame using what is in front of you. You have to consider how the camera-subject distance, camera settings, and shooting angle affect the relationship between elements and change their weight in the frame.
Types of Balance in Photography
You can use these composition techniques to create a balanced photograph with lightness, heaviness, varying shapes, and even meanings behind a composition. Below you’ll find the five types of balance in photography to help you create more visually appealing and meaningful photographs:
Symmetrical Balance
Also known as formal balance, symmetrical balance is the most common way to photograph an image. After all, it’s natural for people to place their main subjects in the center of the image. Professionals and photography workshops often advise new photographers to avoid shooting their subjects front and center, preferring a more off-center approach. But in the case of the photo above, a symmetrically balanced composition works perfectly to give the main subject some visual emphasis and appeal.
In symmetrically balanced photos, both sides of the frame have equal weight. Each side may even mirror the opposite side. Sometimes subjects are surrounded with negative space to provide more emphasis and impact. You can center subjects intentionally to look perfectly symmetrical when split horizontally or vertically in half.
Example of Symmetrical Balance
In the photo of the St. Charles church in Vienna above, the church and its mirror image on the pond are centered to create a symmetrical image via reflection. Meanwhile, the photo of the spinning top below, the top completes the balanced composition with lines and borders that lead the viewer’s eye to the middle and add visual appeal.
Finally, even though it’s usually not advisable to shoot portraits with the person right in the center of the image, it can sometimes be a good compositional technique for red carpet candids and beauty close-ups, as seen in the photo below, especially when using a shallow depth of field to minimize competing distractions.
Asymmetrical Balance
Also known as informal balance, asymmetrical balance is the most common composition technique in photography tutorials and art workshops. Since it requires intentionally placing your subject off-center, it’s more difficult to achieve but gets easier with daily practice.
The rule of thirds uses asymmetry to your advantage. This technique suggests that the most interesting location for an image’s focal point lies one third in from either edge of the frame and one third down from the top or up from the bottom. The best way to visualize this idea is to imagine a tic-tac-toe board drawn across your image. The best place for the focal point when using asymmetrical balance is at the intersection of any two lines. Another way to use asymmetry to create balance in a photography composition is by balancing out your main subject with another, less important subject that contrasts with the former in terms of size, color, or general appearance.
Example of Asymmetrical Balance
Take the image of the window and bike above. Not only are the subjects placed off-center toward the left and right edges of the frame, they compliment each other by varying in size. Therefore, they have balance in both size and subject placement.
In the landscape photo below, the horizon and the setting sun sit along the lines observed by the rule of thirds. The brighter areas of the sky and water are balanced by the darker area of the stones in the foreground. Each side of the frame balances the opposite side.
In the photo on the left, the differently sized subjects (bigger silhouetted bike and smaller hot air balloons) and the contrasting tones between the upper and bottom part of the frame create asymmetrical balance within the composition.
Color Balance
Another interesting way to create asymmetrical balance is by using colors. As you can imagine, a photo with too many vibrant colors, such as reds and oranges, may make an image look overwhelming. You can achieve color balance by balancing out a small area of vibrant color with a larger area of neutral or more pastel colors, and vice versa.
Example of Color Balance
In the image above, the rainbow-colored abacus beads would have been too heavy on the eyes if it were placed on a colored surface instead of a plain, white surface. Too much color can create an unbalanced composition. Both images below were placed off-center and are not balanced out by a second subject. Rather, they have balance by using by more neutral and less striking colors around them.
Tonal Balance
This kind of asymmetrical balance is best in monochromatic or black and white images where different tones are easily distinguishable. In this case, tonal balance appears in terms of contrast between lighter and darker areas within an image.
Example of Tonal Balance
Like bright colors, darker areas are “heavier” on the eyes and are best balanced out by bigger, lighter areas. See this in the photos below, where the foregrounds are darker and are in harmony with the lighter backgrounds. The fact that the foreground subjects also observe the rule of thirds adds even more visual appeal to the images.
Conceptual Balance
Conceptual balance is the more philosophical type of asymmetrical balance where two subjects complement each other and are different beyond size, shape and form. In many cases, conceptual balance is achieved in an image where there are two contrasting textures or meanings behind its subjects. That said, it is obviously harder to compose a conceptually balanced image as it usually takes more than just a tilt of the frame.
Example of Conceptual Balance
In the photo above, the two subjects (an old building and a high-rise glass building) are on the left and right sides of the frame. In addition to asymmetrical, color, and tonal balance, conceptual balance is met as the buildings showcase the effect of modernization and industrialization.
The same goes for the photo of the two kinds of windmills below. On the right, the photo of the denim pants shows color balance as well as conceptual balance, by contrast in textures between the distressed denim and the smoother, less textured surface around it.
How do you capture a balanced photo?
Capturing a balanced photograph requires some strategy when looking at the scene before you. What are the first things that you notice? Try to highlight those subjects as the focal points of the image by placing them strategically within the frame. We’ve discussed the rule of thirds and symmetrical balance. Try experimenting with the negative space, or the empty space surrounding the subject, to give the image more impact.
Take a few test photos. Look at the scene and at the images you’ve taken. Is this a balanced or unbalanced composition? Does it feel like the two sides of the image are fighting for the viewer’s eye? If there is too much going on in the image, how can you adjust the depth of field to provide balance? Does a shallower depth of field make the image feel more balanced by minimizing distractions?
Practice each of the techniques we’ve discussed. As you start to get more familiar with each variety of visual balance, your images will improve and become more visually pleasing.
