Composition and the art making an image attractive

Female Anna's hummingbird with honeysuckle flower

What makes one photo more attractive than another?  Is it a perceptual thing or is it about inherent beauty?  The axiom, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" has a lot to do with it, but really it's not the eye, it's the brain.

Part of what we understand to be beautiful is learned, but even this is based on the ability of our senses to observe what is around us.  Another part of our ability to consider something attractive is innate - our minds have a preset way of reacting to things.  And then there is the cognitive aspect of appreciation where we use our thinking skills to analyse what is in front of us.

These three aspects of our biology are what makes an image stand out for us.  The learned component in the above shot would be the recognition of familiar components - the flower and hummingbird.  The innate part would be compositional guidelines such as our eyes following lines, using the rule of thirds, and framing.  These are core aspects of our psyche that everyone responds to.  And then there is the thinking part of the equation where we take the information we collect through our senses beyond just recognition or reaction.

Consider looking at someone's eyes.  We are patterned to look into the eyes of others.  Nature has taken advantage of this trend and equipped certain insects with eyespots that create a startle reflex in potential predators when they are exposed.  The Polyphemous moth below has a pair of large eyespots that give it an increased chance of escaping from possible predation.

Female Polyphemous moth with large eyespots that deter predation.

When we hear someone talking we often look at their mouth because the lip movement helps us understand what they are saying.  That is a learned behaviour.  Cognition is related to understanding and reflection upon observation; thinking about what is happening in an image that leads to conclusions.

The combination of learned responses, innate responses, and responses from conclusions all act very viscerally for us; when an image touches on all these areas, especially in multiple ways, it can produce a very strong reaction.  

A fourth aspect is when new knowledge is acquired.  We gain knowledge about the world from our senses.  Undersea images tend to be more enticing because we rarely have the opportunity to witness such material.  Tie the first three together with a new experience or concept and the image becomes even more provocative.

Our response to an image is entirely based on our brain's processing of it.  Innate and learned processing interacts with cognition and to that adds the excitement of learning.  All of it takes place in mere seconds.  And that leads us to the "Wow!" factor when an image really appeals to us deeply.

And sometimes I just think, "Hey, that's a nice shot."  The question is, why?

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com