It is so amazing how mathematics is applied to photography to take beautiful, well-balanced, and exciting photos using different techniques.  Math is used by photographers to calculate shutter speed, aperture, focal length settings, and more.

With photography as self-expression, you should be imaginative in order to create the illusion of depth and dimensions. Making this impression will take the eyes of the one looking at your photo into a journey.

Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds is a powerful technique in making your photos look interesting and lively. It is perhaps the most common method used by those who love taking pictures of just about anything. The effect you want to produce is made possible by creating imaginary lines which divide the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. By the rule of thirds, your subject isn’t in the center but a bit off to one side, in one of those places where the lines intersect. It can help you highlight a beautiful background and can give your photo more emotion.

The rule of thirds is about giving the image the right artistic trade-off.

Symmetry

Symmetry is something we have learned back in our geometry class.   It happens when you split the object in half, but that has to be an exact mirror image of each other.  Mathematically, symmetry is when one figure becomes exactly like the other whether you turn, flip, or slide.  For the two subjects to be symmetrical, they should have the same shape and size.  Symmetry allows you to create harmony and proportion in your photos.

Composition

Beauty has something to do with math, too. A photographer analyzes beautiful faces by looking at the ratio between the facial features, nose, mouth, lips, etc. We become attracted to their photos because of pattern recognition. Composition is putting method to the arrangement by pattern recognition. It is about having proportion in the symmetry of the elements. Imagine if you just throw things together at random. Will it be appealing to your eyes? Wouldn’t they just look like trash? But if you’ll try to arrange these same things using a pattern, like same color or size together, won’t you see something that is more beautiful?

The positioning doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be simple and yet it can look elegant. You can also get attention by contrasting colors and contrasting sizes, as long as there is some method to the arrangement.

Symmetry is just literally everywhere, and you only have to learn how to recognize them and apply the trick to your masterpiece.

In our world today, everybody loves taking photos of just everything – the “woke up like this” look, the food, the OOTD, documenting daily lives. But most students love to hate mathematics. They think of it as just the hard computation thing and long equations that seem dull. Their hate for computation could have been different if the students know that understanding math can help them produce beautiful selfies and put life in their travel pics. The geometric sequences, fractions, areas, angles, and algebraic formulas could have been more interesting.

Teachers can tell students that math doesn’t end inside the classroom or will just end up in their solution books. There is more to math than mere equations.

Let mathematics play its tricks on your mind so that wherever you go, whatever you do, your math and imagination will work together so you can quickly recognize whether to use symmetry or rule of thirds on your next photo.