Tension and balance

Two of the most common words I hear used when describing images are ‘tension’ and ‘balance’. I’ve got a good idea what the latter means, and how to translate it into an image – but the former is much more nebulous. A brief look around online also showed that they’re both not that well understood, or badly defined, too. At the risk of putting my neck on the block, I’m throwing my contribution into the ring, too. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comment section…

In a previous article, I touched on balance in relation to aspect ratios and compositional theory: this had to do with the spatial distribution of active elements in the frame, empty space between those elements and surrounding them to the frame edge. The wrong aspect ratio for the frame would result in unequal area between each element and the edges, leading to a feeling of imbalance since the viewer’s eyes would be drawn to the unequal area due to asymmetry. Note that there is no right or wrong in this case: the dominant unequal area might actually be desirable in say a landscape to emphasize the distance between the foreground and subject, or the expanse of sky. I suppose this is a bit disingenuous because what is really happening is that portion of the frame is being turned into a compositional element itself.

Here, the tree and mountain are ‘heavy’ enough to counterbalance the stars – and this is even further emphasised in the full size version as only the tree is in the focal plane.

Of course if an element takes up more space in the frame than it leaves behind, it turns into the background; what’s now happening is tension is being created between the remaining elements and the background or space. The tension is really creating a differential of interest between the different zones or elements in the frame, causing the eyes of the viewer to flow between one and the other.

Balanced, but not particularly tense. The only tension is implied by the human figure walking out of the frame.

It’s not quite that simple, of course: if the differential is too great, then your viewer goes straight out of the frame and isn’t encouraged to linger; if they don’t linger, they don’t spend more time considering the image, and if they don’t do that, then the image is unlikely to be memorable. The smaller element must therefore be strong enough to capture audience attention and bring it back against the ‘pull*’ of the rest of the frame. The bigger the empty space, the stronger the remaining element must be; that can of course be countered somewhat by conscious exclusion of all of the unwanted and potentially distracting elements – it’s probably the reason very imbalanced compositions tend to only work well if they’re minimalist.

*At this point, I must apologise for the language used: part of the problem of discussing such topics is the vernacular simply isn’t very well developed to describe visual concepts; we land up using analogies and metaphors and examples and hoping the thoughts get translated fully.

Back to the coloured dots. Neither balanced nor tense; the empty space to the right is distracting – and made more so by the absence of any other elements in the frame – but not a subject

Balanced, but not very tense – both elements are equal in interest

Tense, but not balanced: the empty space is now so dominant we interpret as deliberate

Tense, but not balanced – again, the empty space dominates, but this time, it’s distracting, as are the cut off secondary elements

Balanced and tense – unequal elements placed in such a way they have relatively equal visual weight without external distractions keeps your eyes bouncing between them; your brain creates the implied relationship

At this point, I think it’s clear that tension and balance are not the same thing – at least not as most photographers understand it. They’re not mutually exclusive, either; you can have an image that’s perfectly balanced (think a reflection, or something highly symmetric) that has no tension but still ‘works’; but off the top of my head, I can’t think of any extremely high-tension images that are effective but not balanced (please feel free to make suggestions). Of course, the ideal case is one in which you have both.

The dominant downward-right lean to the image is balanced and offset by the strong shadow to the bottom left. Note that this image reads differently to different audiences: I’ve found it seems imbalanced to people who read right-left, but not left-right.

Here’s the crux: balance is a visual and aesthetic consideration; tension is a conceptual and intellectual one. I think balance really transcends culture and social preferences; I think an image can feel harmonious and balanced even if there are no recognisable elements to it. On the other hand, tension requires some recognition of the subject matter – it is a consequence of the implied relationship between the various elements, and in order for that relationship to exist, the viewer must be able to connect the dots in their own mind. The only way for this to happen is if the elements are both identifiable and understood to some degree. A person who has never seen a car might not know that it was a movable object, or that certain elements of the bodywork can open.

Tension, but is there balance? The half-figure is implied to be exiting the frame by motion blur and the direction of her face.

We actually see this quite a lot in photojournalism: many images result in an incomplete narrative if you don’t read the accompanying caption or body copy. This isn’t always the fault of the photographer; sometimes contextual elements simply do not coexist in the necessary physical proximity to make the composition work, and even then, the real relationship between them may be far too complex to convey visually. Are there limits to storytelling in images? If you are looking for a definite, rigid narrative, then yes; a still image is in many ways more of a strong suggestion than a definite flow because causality can only be an implicit product of the audience’s expectations rather than an explicit one. Take for example an image shot profile-on of a car and a man standing in front of the bonnet: is the car parked, reversing, or about to run the man over? Is the man crossing the road, standing there, blocking entrance, or the owner admiring his new ride**?

**As far as tension goes, the weight our minds attach to the human figure probably balances the car – we tend to be more strongly attracted to people in images than anything else, except perhaps cats and bokeh.

I come back to the first image again:

There is balance here because the left and right sides of the image have equal visual weight; but note how there is also tension implied by the diagonal shadows/light connecting the two halves, bridging what would otherwise be an empty hole between them.

Whilst I think a near-endless discourse on balance and tension is possible, let me try to wrap it up succinctly: tension is used to create a visual flow to an image, together with the suggestion of a relationship between the dominant objects. It is important from a narrative perspective because it forces the eyes of the viewer to move away from the single most outstanding element in a frame. Ideally, this should be a conscious choice – if there are unintentional elements creating that tension, then they just land up being confusing and/or distracting to the subject and overall narrative. Balance is the spatial arrangement of elements in a composition that firstly draws audience attention to the intended portion of the frame, but establishes an order of priority based on the degree to which subjects stand out and attract our attention. Overall compositional balance is also what keeps the audience’s eyes within the frame. Ideally, a good image needs both deliberate balance and tension. MT

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