When might we break the rules? A statistical analysis of aesthetics in photographs

Abstract

High-quality photographs often follow certain high-level rules well known to photographers, but some photographs intentionally break these rules. Doing so is usually a matter of artistry and intuition, and the conditions and patterns that allow for rule-breaks are often not well articulated by photographers. This article first applies statistical techniques to help find and evaluate rule-breaking photographs, and then from these photographs discover those patterns that justify their rule-breaking. With this approach, this article discovered some significant patterns that explain why some high-quality photographs successfully break the common photographic rules by positioning the subject in the center or the horizon in the vertical center. These patterns included reflections, leading lines, crossing objects, ambiguous lines, implied lines, thirds line subjects, and busy foregrounds for center horizon photographs, and symmetry, circular-shaped objects, thirds line elements, gestalt, framing, leading lines, and perspective lines for center subject photographs.