Symmetry, pattern and rhythm

Learning goal

You will be able to see repeating shapes as a photograph's order, and build this order deliberately. You will recognize symmetry and the reflection symmetry formed on the surface of water; you will see that symmetry calls for flawless alignment and that a small shift can read as a mistake; you will tell apart a pattern that fills the frame from a rhythm that repeats at intervals; you will use the tendency of an odd element falling among repeating shapes to draw most viewers' attention; and when the element breaking the pattern is a person, you will build a frame that is readable and respectful, on every skin, by bringing them forward not for their skin or body, but for what they are doing.

The question

You are in a tea garden in a seaside town. In the garden stretching to the shore, the same red chairs and the same round tables are set out in neat rows; it is early morning, and they are all empty. Only at one table, right in the middle of the rows, an old man is reading a newspaper. The frame you take of the empty garden is orderly but lifeless; the frame that takes in the man too suddenly turns into a story.

Why do repeating things hypnotize us? Chairs set out row after row, the bricks of a wall, the arches of a bazaar tend to hold most viewers' gaze for a while and give the frame a sense of order. When this order is broken, on the other hand, the gaze usually goes straight to the element that breaks it. In this lesson we will separate three forms of repetition, and look at why that single reader among the empty chairs suddenly brings the frame to life.

Context

In the foundations of composition we saw placing the subject on the intersection points of the rule of thirds, a little away from the middle; and in this module we talked about carrying the gaze with lines and holding it with frames. This lesson looks at another source of order: repetition. Repetition can give a photograph a structure independent of the subject; when the subject settles into this structure or breaks it, the frame can look both orderly and alive.

Symmetry, on the other hand, is a case where the habit of moving the subject away from the middle is deliberately let go. In a symmetrical scene the subject is usually placed in the exact middle of the frame, and this brings the order of that scene forward. This too is not a rule but a choice; you decide which suits what you want to say in which scene.

Simple explanation

How is symmetry built?

Symmetry is when, if you split a frame in two with a line through its middle, the two halves stand like mirrors of each other. An arched door, a bridge, a corridor or a building's facade is often symmetrical on a vertical axis. The surface of water, on the other hand, builds a reflection symmetry on a horizontal axis: mountains on a lakeshore, boats in harbor water, lights reflected in a wet square give an upside-down copy of the world above.

Symmetry's power comes from its exactness; that is why it calls for very careful alignment. The camera needs to be in the exact middle, upright and parallel to the ground. Using the grid and the level on the screen, as in the lesson where we learned to keep the horizon straight, helps here too. A half-step shift makes one half look a little wider than the other, and can look like a mistake to the viewer. If you want symmetry, build it fully; if you don't, break it clearly.

What are pattern and rhythm?

A pattern is a shape or a color repeated enough to fill the frame: the tiles of a roof, the oranges on a market stall, the rows in a field. When a pattern fills the frame to its edges, the viewer often feels that this repetition goes on beyond the frame too. Patterns can look even denser when seen from a distant point with a narrow angle, through the compression we saw in Lesson 12.4.

Rhythm, on the other hand, is repetition at intervals: a row of posts, the arches of a bazaar, the steps of a staircase, people walking in a line. Rhythm's power is in the intervals; if the intervals are equal, it tends to feel calm and orderly; if they gradually narrow, it suggests a speeding up; and if they are irregular, a restlessness. When photographing a rhythm, looking at how the intervals spread across the frame and how the rhythm leaves the frame decides what it will say.

What does an element that breaks the pattern do?

A single element among repeating shapes that doesn't resemble them tends to draw most viewers' gaze to itself: a single red apple among rows of green apples, a single black bird among white birds, a single person sitting among empty chairs. The pattern becomes a ground that brings this element forward. That is why the pattern breaker is often the photograph's real subject.

Where the pattern breaker stands matters too. When it stands in the exact middle, it strengthens a symmetrical order; when it stands a little away from the middle, near one of the intersection points, it builds a livelier balance inside the pattern. Often you need to wait to find this element: for a person to step onto an empty staircase, for the light to go on in one of a row of windows, for one bird to break away from a flock. First building the pattern and then waiting for the moment that breaks it has been a common route to frames like these.

What do you watch for if the pattern breaker is a person?

When the element breaking the pattern is a person, they are the photograph's real subject, and they need to be readable. A repeating bright or dark pattern can pull the camera's metering to itself, and the person's face can stay too dark or too bright. A dark-skinned face can sink into shadow inside a bright pattern; a light-skinned face can turn white in the middle of a dark pattern. You need to build the exposure not for the pattern, but for the face of the person breaking the pattern.

Respect also comes in here. When framing a person as the element left outside the pattern, showing them as the one who is different because of their body, their skin or their appearance reduces them to an object. When what breaks the pattern is something the person is doing, the frame is both more respectful and more meaningful: reading a newspaper among empty chairs, turning alone to the sun under a row of umbrellas, looking in another direction in a queue. In a frame like this, the viewer looks not at a person's appearance, but at a moment.

Visual evidence

You go back to the tea garden. You hold the camera parallel to the shore, in the exact middle of the rows and upright by the grid; the red chairs and white tables stretch out on both sides of the frame like mirrors of each other, with the sea and the horizon a straight line in the background. The man reading the newspaper, dark-skinned, in a white fedora, is at the table in the exact middle; the order of the empty chairs puts him in the middle of a stage.

The camera's metering shifts toward the bright red and white pattern, and the man's face in the shadow of his hat stays dark. You open the exposure a stop for his face; the red of the chairs glows a little, but the man's face bent over the newspaper, his eyes behind his glasses and his mustache can be read. You wait a few minutes; the man lowers the newspaper and looks at the sea, and at that moment you press the shutter button. The same garden, the same chairs; what broke the pattern was a man's gaze turning to the sea.

Common mistakes

Summary

Repeating shapes give a photograph order: symmetry is two halves being mirrors of each other and calls for flawless alignment, reflection symmetry builds a horizontal axis on the surface of water, a pattern gives the feeling of going on by filling the frame, and rhythm builds a tempo through repetition at intervals. A single pattern breaker tends to draw most viewers' gaze to itself and is often the photograph's real subject; if this element is a person, the exposure is built for their face, and what breaks the pattern, on every skin, is not the person's appearance but something they are doing.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will find the repetitions around you and use them as an order and a subject.

1. Photograph a symmetrical structure, a door, a bridge or a corridor, from the exact middle with the grid and the level; then shift half a step on purpose and shoot, and compare the two frames.
2. Find a reflection symmetry on the surface of water and photograph it, putting the horizon in the middle of the frame.
3. Find and photograph a pattern that fills the frame to its edges, and a rhythm that repeats at intervals.
4. Build a pattern and wait for a moment that breaks it; if this is a person, build the exposure for their face and make sure what breaks the pattern is something they are doing.

Check yourself

• Did you see the difference between the symmetrical frame shot from the exact middle and the frame shifted by half a step?
• Did the pattern breaker draw your gaze to itself right away?
• Can the eyes of the person breaking the pattern be made out, and is it a movement or a gaze of theirs that carries the frame?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What can be the result of a half-step shift when photographing a symmetrical scene?

• A) The frame looks more balanced
• B) One half looks a little wider than the other, and this can read as a mistake
• C) The exposure goes wrong
• D) Nothing changes

2. Which concept describes the repetition of a row of posts at intervals?

• A) Rhythm
• B) Reflection symmetry
• C) Negative space
• D) Vanishing point

3. Why does a single red apple among rows of green apples tend to draw the gaze?

• A) Because red is always the brightest color
• B) Because the apple is in the middle of the frame
• C) Because it is the single element that breaks the repeating pattern
• D) Because the sharpness is put on it

4. If the face of a dark-skinned man sitting among bright red chairs stays dark, what do you do?

• A) Leave the exposure set for the chairs
• B) Fade the color of the chairs in editing
• C) Paint the chairs another color
• D) Build the exposure for the man's face

Answers

1. B — Symmetry draws its power from exactness; a small shift shows the two halves unequal and can look like an unintended mistake.
2. A — Rhythm is the repetition of an element at intervals; posts, arches and steps build rhythm.
3. C — The pattern builds a repeating ground; the single element that doesn't resemble it tends to stand out on this ground.
4. D — The repeating bright pattern pulls the metering to itself; exposing for the face, the real subject, makes it readable.

Summary card

• Symmetry: two halves mirror each other; build it fully or break it clearly.
• Reflection symmetry: a horizontal axis on the surface of water.
• A pattern fills the frame; a rhythm builds a tempo with intervals.
• The single pattern breaker is often the real subject; build the pattern first, then wait for the moment.
• If the breaker is a person, expose for their face; on every skin, let what they do bring them forward, not their appearance.

Bridge to the next lesson

In the tea garden's morning frame, the red chairs filled the frame. Imagine photographing the same man in the late-afternoon garden, emptied and with its chairs stacked away, with an endless sea and sky in front of him: this time almost all of the frame is empty, and the man is a small figure. Can emptiness be a subject too? The next lesson talks about negative space, that is, what the emptiness around the subject adds to a photograph.