Alignment as a Design Principle in Photography

Alignment is a common design principle in visual communication. The alignment principle can be simply described as nothing should be placed in the photograph arbitrarily. Every item in the photography should have a visual connection with something else in the frame. Using this principle focuses us as photographers to be conscious of our choices. No longer can we be haphazard in the framing of our pictures.

When visual elements are aligned in the frame, the result is a stronger visual cohesion. The more aligned the elements, the more we know the path our eye is supposed to travel. Alignment between elements creates a calm path. Our message is communicated more clearly. In the photograph below, we see the poker chips stacked neatly and are on the same lines in the photo. The alignment provides orders to the photo.

In the second photograph, the poker chips are jumbled and misaligned. The message is disorganization. As in life, the lack of organization creates discomfort. Our eye doesn’t know where to look and continuously scans the image looking for order. As humans we crave order. And when it is missing it creates anxiety. The scattered poker chips communicate dissonance.

The third photograph, we have three stacks of chips neatly in a row. The message again is order and thus harmony. The photo with the misaligned stacks can easily be seen as communicating disorder and thus discomfort.

It is also worthy of note that the frame of the photograph has its own order. The edges of the frame provide a strength to the alignment. When the disarray is nearer the edges the disharmony is greater. There is conflict between the nicely aligned edges and the misaligned stacked. Below is two different framings of the same photo. In the first, the stack is near the edge. In the second, the stack is perfectly centered. Can you sense a different level of disharmony between the two images? It is general rule in photography and graphic design, that a center alignment is a bit weak. Although centered subjects can be viewed as having a more formal look, I think they are just more sedate, more ordinary, and often downright dull. The edges of the frame can support your alignment and eye travel or they can serve as a contrast to your planned disorder and accentuate the message.

When designing a photograph, we need to be deliberate in our placement of visual elements in the frame. Conscious placement of our visual elements help to tell the story we are trying to create in the image. If we want harmony in the image, each element should have some visual connection with another element. The purpose of alignment is unify and organize the photo. The connections tell our eye where to travel to next in the photo. Disrupt that harmony by misaligning the elements. And please try very hard to break away from centered subjects unless you are trying to create a more formal, sedate image.