Golden Section

From Nikonians Wiki

The Golden Section is an ancient mathematical construction designed to produce the ideal proportions in art. An easy to remember simplification is the rule of thirds, but the Golden Section is often considered to be more artistically and mathematically 'valid' as it is often encountered in nature. Leonardo da Vinci made a special study of the Golden Section, with numerous illustrations, but Renaissance architects and -long before them- the builders of the Acropolis, as well as the builders of Egyptian, Aztec and Mayan pyramids among others, made extensive use of the Golden Section (sometimes called the Golden Mean or Divine Proportions), as have most artists in the Western tradition.

The classical formulation of the Golden Mean is that if a line of length C is divided into two lengths B (longer) and A (shorter), the proportion of A to B is the same as the proportion of B to C.

An easier way to remember the Golden Section for those with calculators is that it is 1.618033988749895, which is 1 + the square root of 5, all divided by 2. In other words, a rectangle has the 'ideal' proportions if it is approximately 1 unit on the short side to 1.6 units on the long side, for example, 5" x 8" - a standard photographic size.

A Golden Section rectangle can always be subdivided into further Golden Section rectangles.

The Golden Section is easier to use than to describe!

You can also read the guide to easily using the Golden Section in Photoshop or any other layers enabled photo application.

More information on the Golden Mean is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

This image shows how the Golden Section can be applied in placing a key interest point (the child's expression) in the right place, exploiting the benefit of an external frame to increase the dimensions of the picture.

• This page was last modified on 26 January 2010, at 08:22.
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