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Exercise: Horizontal Line of Symmetry

Exercise: This exercise is the same as the previous one except this time instead of VLS you are going to look for HLS.

Just focus on HLS. Be sure to hold your camera horizontally to enhance the visual effect.

Goal: 10 objects with horizontal lines of symmetry.

Explanation: You can always find HLS by looking at a reflection from a lake or any other body of water. Water creates a perfect mirror reflection of whatever is in close proximity to the water source. Think of how many photographs you have seen in magazines or books with reflections of water. These landscapes are beautiful partly because of the scene, but mostly because those images have symmetrical and balanced properties. The key to this exercise is to bring those same powerful properties to an urban scene that has no body of water. Easier said than done, right? But if you work on recognizing these properties everywhere you go, you will be better able to harness the symmetrical properties of any scene you are faced with. The work is a bit tedious, but it is well worth it! Images 4.7–4.10 are some of my examples doing this exercise.

4.7. During my little walk, I noticed this orange chair from some distance. Because I was actively looking for HLS, I stopped to take a photo of the back of the chair.

4.8. You can see how I isolated the symmetrical portion of the chair from all the other distractions. The back of this chair has a very clear HLS.

4.9. In this example, it was the blue shutters that had the HLS I was looking for.

4.10. Here are the shutters isolated for its HLS. Remember to place the HLS in the middle of the frame. That way, the symmetry will be centered.

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