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Re: esoteric question
I's add to what Bill said in regards to
> their subject as the
> collection of shapes and forms they actually are, and actually will
> be, once
> that visual information is reduced to a two dimensional plane.
Terry Barrett, in _Criticizing Photographs_, calls this a
"juxtaposition" of shapes and is something every photographer grapples
with as we compose our frames.
BTW, the golden mean (section) doesn't mean thirds? It is a system of
proportion, based on a mathematical formula (based again on a pentagon)
which divides a given line into extreme and minor means (or sections).
While this may look like a two-thirds to one-third system, it isn't. It
also doesn't take into account square images (or circular ones like the
Hobo camera of Gordon Mark). I would say force lines, visual center,
borders, and the actual frame's shape have as much to do with the
composition as any mathematical rule. I looked this one up,
algebraically it is a:b = b:(a+b). Ouch, my brain hurts!
To answer Pam's question, the pages which face left, place areas of
importance closer to that edge and right hand pages are vice versa.
Seldom are images of people used which look "off" the page, but rather
towards the gutter, thus containing the "viewing". This is a principle
of book page design and books (or newspapers) have left and right hand
pages. Each must contend with each other as they face each other.
--
Darryl Baird