Artists have long used the golden ratio as a guide for creating aesthetically pleasing art, as it’s believed

that the human brain is hardwired to find the proportions inherently beautiful. Take a look at the work of
legendary photographer Ansel Adams, and you may find the golden ratio tracing out many of their
notable features.

“And then, with the power of conscious mathematics, the human can capture and exalt nature beyond
natural state, as the master photographer Ansel Adams did by imposing his sense of the golden
harmonies, by which he himself was created, upon nature.”

As an art student, Jon Sparkman was introduced to the Rule of Thirds, which are guidelines for how to
compose an image. Essentially, the picture is divided into a grid, and the intersecting points are where
the impactful parts of the picture should take place. Sparkman, however, makes use of its “superior,
wiser, and elusive brother,” the Golden Ratio (aka the Fibonacci Spiral) to construct his compositions.

GOLDEN RATIO

In photography, two rules are unavoidable – Golden ratio and Rule of thirds and it is still being discussed
about which rule is “better”.

Golden-section-ballerina Golden-sectionThe composition may be symmetrical and asymmetrical. To

make the picture more pleasant, harmonious, and to avoid the central composition, old masters were
applying various methods and mathematical calculations. Since symmetrical compositions are
sometimes monotonous and static, the golden ratio is used as one of the solutions. This rule is defined
by the Roman architect Vitruvius, who tried to establish unequal distribution and asymmetry of space
that is pleasant and attractive to human visual experience. This is a classic mathematical formula for a
balanced distribution of “weight” in the picture.

Note how the white stone forming the base of Kate Moss’s above portrait also forms the short side of a
perfect golden rectangle, with the height of the photograph forming the longer side of a golden
rectangle.

The ratio of the width of the white stone Kate is sitting upon to the height of the photograph is the
golden ratio 1.618. Penn regularly used this proportion.

One of Penn’s masterful golden compositions.