Lesson 4: Centre of Interest vs. Panorama. Richness vs. Simplicity (continued)

Don't get me wrong. I don't really disparage simplicity of design AKA eye candy, nor the professionals who create it, nor their audience (I would like to swing the pendulum back the other way, however!). For me the only trouble with simplicity is staying power. I don't read and re-read a copy of National Geographic like I might A Midsummer Night's Dream. A sailboat alone on a still water at sunset may make an eye-catching composition. Ten days after hanging it on your wall you barely notice it. In twenty days it has become invisible. On the other hand, visitors to your house are more likely to notice the sailboat with delight than the less flashy image the endless detail of which keeps amazing you with something new.

An aria, like a portrait, has a dominant voice; all others are chorus. A counterpoint motet may have a half dozen or more equal voices often sounding separate but simultaneous melodies. The more bowling pins you try to juggle the harder to keep them in the air. As we saw in Figure 2b, too many geese can spoil the view.

But complexity for complexity's sake is no answer, either. Figure 4e could be said to have a strong centre of interest - the brook - but it's quite a static shape. The rest of the scene has plenty of richness and variety - but the profusion of leaves, branches, and trunks tends to disintegrate into chaos. Too many balls to juggle.

Look back at Figure 3d. Compositionally, 4e and 3d are very similar: a central wedge shape divides both images into two fairly symmetrical halves. The two symmetrical halves have similar fussy organic detail. For me, however, 3d works; all its elements cohere gracefully.

What is the centre of interest in 4f? The tree most nearly front and just to the right of centre may do if you have to have one ... but is this picture really about that tree? Or the barrell? Or the tool shed? Or the house with the red roof? For me 4f is an extremely satisfying image. It manages to keep a myriad balls in the air without disintegrating into chaos. Therefore there is plenty of richness to keep me coming back to it with a new eye, time and again. For me at least, this is not eye candy but an eye feast!