Triangles in Photography: Ultimate Guide to Striking Compositions and Visual Harmony

Last updated on July 15th, 2023 at 02:20 pm

In this discussion, I will introduce you to the basics of using triangles in photography. I will also touch on the best-case scenarios where you can use this compositional technique for optimum results.

Triangles are basically polygonal shapes. However, when it comes to photography, this innocuous-looking geometric shape has the power to transform your work by infusing a degree of sense and purpose into your composition.

Interestingly, triangles have been in use in painting long before photographers adopted the concept and ran with it. There are innumerable examples I can cite, but one of the lesser-known examples is The Beautiful Gardener or La bella Giardiniera by Italian painter Raphael Sanzio.

Can you figure out the imaginary triangle shape in that painting?

Intrigued? Without further ado, let’s get started.

Why Use Triangles in My Photography?

The use of triangles in photographic compositions is driven mainly by the fact that they are extremely diverse in their applicability. People often associate triangles with a sense of balance and symmetry. But the use of triangles in photography has far-reaching connotations.

Triangles can also introduce a sense of instability into a composition. All you have to do is incorporate a tilting triangle into your composition, and that will dramatically impact your photo.

Try this out and see the difference it makes.

Triangles can also be used as a leading line in a composition. Something that draws the attention of the user toward the main subject of the photo.

You can also use triangles to convey a sense of direction in your photos. Imagine how we follow an arrowhead on a street sign to take the desired route?

How to Create a Triangle in My Photographic Composition?

Triangles around us

You may not need to go above and beyond where you normally shoot or try different techniques in order to create a triangle in your compositions. The reason is – triangles are everywhere around us.

You can simply take a photograph of the window in your room that’s shaped like a triangle and incorporate the polygon in your composition. Alternatively, you can shoot an image of a staircase and incorporate triangles that way.

But there are many other ways you can incorporate a triangle. Let’s check out some of those techniques.

What are Implied Triangles?

gaze forming triangles in photography

Implied triangles are a bit more complicated to compose, and sometimes they are not so easy to comprehend.

In the above image, the man is gazing at the woman while she is looking toward the bottom right of the frame. Can you figure out the imaginary lines that are forming a triangle by following the gaze of the two protagonists in the picture?

Introducing Converging Triangles

converging triangles in photography

Converging triangles can be formed by straight lines that appear to meet at infinity or within the frame.

This is a great way to use the concept of leading lines in photography. I will discuss this in detail when I take up this topic and discuss the rules of photography.

Triangles can Direct Attention

You can incorporate a triangle in your composition and use it as a pointer toward the main focus of your composition.

In the image above, the bow of the boat points toward the landscape in the background, which is the main subject of the photo.

These particular images are a bit tricky because you need to maintain a large Depth of Field (DoF) on a moving platform. So you need a lens that produces sharp images with a small aperture.

Triangles and the Human Body

use of triangles in environmental portraits

The use of the concept of triangles in photography can go beyond inanimate objects. You can use the same rule to photograph a person as well.

In the above image, the girl’s folded arms make a perfect right-angled triangle shape when you imagine that they fold and connect with the torso.

What are Golden Triangles in Photography?

If you are familiar with the concept of Rule of Thirds, you already know how that involves using a grid of nine boxes. Sort of like a tic-tac-toe grid. The idea revolves around you placing the object of interest to coincide with one of the intersecting points.

Doing so improves the overall composition of the image.

The Golen Triangle uses triangles instead of rectangular grids.

To incorporate the Golden Triangle in your photos, all you have to do is draw a straight line from one corner of your image to the opposite corner. Now draw another line that starts from any of the remaining two corners and connect it with the first line at a right angle.

Voila! You have created a basic golden triangle shape.

You can even draw another line from the opposite corner that touches the first line at a right angle.

The idea is to place the point of interest on or near an intersecting point.

For a portrait image, that should ideally be the eye of the subject being photographed.

Visual Drama Introduced by Unstable Triangles

Triangles are probably the most stable of polygons (think Pyramids), and yet if you slightly tweak your compositions, you can introduce tension in your compositions by using the same shape.

All you have to do is find a triangle that is at an unnatural orientation, and you can achieve that effect in your composition.

Check the image above. It invokes the feeling that the boat is about to tip over.

When it is OK to Break the Rule?

simple portrait composition

Just like any other rules in photography, it is ok not to use this technique in certain types of compositions.

simple landscape composition

For example, when you want to capture a very simplistic composition and don’t need complex shapes and lines in your frame, you don’t have to use this technique.

Triangles in Photography: Concluding Thoughts

Triangles are an important part of the overall concept of the aesthetic arrangement of the elements inside a photographic frame. It is a part of the larger set of rules that we refer to as the photographic rules of composition.

It is not difficult at all to incorporate this technique in your photography. Often the shape is everywhere. All you have to do is identify it and use it for the right effect.

However, just like for any other rules of composition, it is ok to break or not use the concept of triangles in your photography.

So, trust your intuition and judgment, and feel free to experiment with and refine it as you go along.

Triangles in Photography: FAQ

I will answer a few frequently asked questions on this topic. If you have more questions about this post, do feel free to leave a comment below.

Can triangles be used in a convincing way in photographic compositions?

Yes, but the judgment has to be yours. You can identify the shape in your frame and then use it in a way that it adds to the composition. Using it in a composition where it doesn’t add to it will actually negatively impact the photo.

Is there a natural way to incorporate triangles in photography?

Yes. Triangles are found all around us. Even in nature. So, if you can identify the shape and then incorporate that into your composition, you can use it in a natural way.

What are the implied ways of incorporating triangles in photography?

Implied ways are more subtle than naturally forming triangles. But they can be equally fun to play with. Find shapes, points, gazes, references, and anything else that can be used as implied triangles in your compositions.

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