Left vs. Right Bias? - Plus Another Example

<div>No, this is not an attempt to start a political discussion!  This is about photo composition.
 </div> <div>My wife is getting annoyed with my "This one or that one?" photo composition questions, so I thought I might impose on you, hoping it won't be annoying, and perhaps might even bring up an interesting idea about compositions.  Several years ago there were comments in the Landscape Gallery about preferences by some people for images that are anchored on the left side, or appear to flow from left to right, verses the opposite orientation.  These two images reminded me of that discussion.
 </div> <div>Can you please tell me your INITIAL REACTION TO EACH OF THESE TO IMAGES?
NOTE:  I am NOT asking for image critiques here.  Instead, I just have three questions:
 </div> <div>QUESTION 1:  Do you prefer (or perhaps dislike less) image A or image B?
QUESTION 2:  Can you say WHY one looks better or worse than the other?
QUESTION 3:  Are you right-handed or left-handed?
 </div> <div>THANKS</div>

The image on the right looks marginally better to me.  I am right handed. The close middle clump seems to be moving toward me on the right, which draws my eye into the photo. 

Patrick

I prefer B and I'm right handed. At first glance I liked A better, but then I decided on B because there is more mystery to explore with my eyes on the left, and the left to right eye progression feels most natural to me.

My husband gets tired of the same question too, so I hope you will help us all out with your survey!

I prefer B.  I'm left-handed.

But I'm also "right-eyed."  That is, I look through the viewfinder with my right eye.  I recall something on social media a few years ago that listed a breakdown of how many photographers looked through their viewfinder with the right or left eye, and compared that to how many of such people were right- or left-handed.  It was interesting to see the combinations (I believe my left hand/right eye combo may have been the rarest), and I do wonder if being right or left eye dominant relates to this composition preference somehow.  It occasionally crosses my mind with my wildlife photos if I have tendencies to go with left- or right-facing subjects, but I haven't really noticed a pattern.

The more I look at your two images above, I actually also wonder if my initial reaction was biased because they are stacked on top of each other so closely.  Because the two images almost blend into one composition, the appearance is that B is at the bottom and is "anchoring" everything, so to speak.  I honestly think that may have influenced my initial reaction and preference, as I think it's more common to have a lower-placed main subject or starting point in a composition, from which the eye often moves upward or outward (e.g., a foreground landscape object, or an animal with more empty space or background patterns above and behind it).  If I cover up B and just look at A on its own, it suddenly becomes more appealing.

Max

Wayne,

Outstanding question! And thank you for bringing this to the forum, I think this is what might be needed to generate interest and involvement.

One of the reasons I love this question is because I taught composition to beginning photographers for a number of years.  Ok, I'm not credentialed, I have no certificates... but I've been studying and interested in composition for quite a long time.  And the only reason I mention this is because this topic has been a topic I've covered when it comes to composition.

I can't speak to any authenticity or truth to this, but I've subscribed to this, and it make sense to me.  In a western culture, we learn from an early age to read and write from left to right, top to bottom.  Other cultures, from right to left.  So the theory goes, depending on your culture, your background, and experiences, you may find right>left or right>left compositions more favorable.  There is not right or wrong here, only a matter of personal perspective.

To go with that theory, I prefer "B" because if I view the image and my eye moves in from left to right, it's "open" and the composition feels comfortable and preferable.  "A" I feel "blocked" because the same features are on the left, where my eye starts to view the image and my eye gets stuck in the darker spit of land/trees.

Is this science?  (who knows, there may be studies...)  but I think the bottom line is that folks are influenced  by their culture, upbringing and teachings.  Some are more comfortable with left>right or right>left or vertical vs. horizontal. - Square vs. another format.  

Wayne, the ultimate answer is.... quit asking for another's opinion..  My wife has made it clear for years, due to her poor vision (20/800.... read that right, it's not 20/20...)  Anything image I have that has any blur, or even requires great detail to appreciate, she can't see (or appreciate)  So I just don't ask... ;-)

In the end, YOU need to feel comfortable with your chosen composition.  You have a gorgeous, dynamic scene.  I prefer B

I prefer “B” and am right handed and right eye dominant. I wonder if I were to be moving forward thru the scenes if “B” would seem to present the initial obstacles to fend off and avoid to my dominant right side. So I prefer the easier path thru image “B”.

I prefer A because the image seems closer to me and I feel I want to see more therefore it draws me further into the picture whereas with B, it seems to be going away from me and does not leave me lingering for a further look. I am right handed.

I prefer B. I've heard from others in the past that is has something to do with the way we read...from left to right...that we inherently view a photo from left to right without thinking about it. I suppose the opposite would be true for those languages that read right to left. In this case, the eye starts on the left and is led in toward the right with this composition which makes it a bit more pleasing to me...and possibly to others.
Not sure if there's any scientific evidence to this...but it seems like a sound theory to me.

 

Absolutely A for me. My eye starts at the left edge and sweeps easily into the fog and reeds. With B, that flow is not there for me. Excellent exercise and fascinating to see the different takes from people. Great post!

 

Absolutely A for me. My eye starts at the left edge and sweeps easily into the fog and reeds. With B, that flow is not there for me. Excellent exercise and fascinating to see the different takes from people. Great post!

WOW, I thought it was my abnormal brain until I saw Harley's post. Maybe it's one of those reading from left to right things, but I've always struggled with my own images not starting on the left. Oddly, I'm almost blind in my left eye and would think it would be seen the other way around.
Fun exercise......

As a side note here, Wayne: Years ago Marc Adamus and I had thoughts on what is more popular for home and office prints. Vertical or Horizontal. Can't say I recall where that all ended up beyond my own likes for horizontal, but at the same time he and I agreed that home decorators might have the true answer.

I suspect that it would mostly be horizontal for open rooms and verticals for hallway presentations......

 

Photo A, I'm left-handed.



Our culture is trained to a left to right view. As a left-handed person, I resent it a little (all the arrows in Gregg penmanship diagrams above the blackboard went the wrong direction), but I'm resigned to it. 

Good topic, though.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your help.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE:
I found the old post where I first heard of the right/left bias of many people regarding landscape photographs.  Scroll down on that post to see both original and flipped versions HERE.  You might want to see if you have the same reaction to that image.  I am curious to compare reactions to both the new one in this post and the 2011 image -- very different images even though both are "lop-sided."

I hope we get more reactions to help me figure out what triggers the right/left bias, and how many people see it.   I suspect that the left-to-right reading custom is largely responsible for the bias, but I don't know enough people who read the other way to easily make a comparison.  The reason I asked if you were right- or left-handed is to see if left-handed people react as strongly as others, because I am left-handed, left-eye-dominant, and also somewhat ambidextrous, as well as possibly somewhat dyslexic, and I don't see a strong left/right bias.  (People used to have to remind me to turn overhead projector transparencies over when I was teaching, because -- like Leonardo DaVinci -- I can read "backwards" mirror-image text.)  I have also read that people like Max, with mixed dominance, are also more likely to perceive text and images differently than the general public.  (... And that they are more frequently "gifted" in diverse ways from sports to higher mathematics. -- e.g.  http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/benefits-of-mixed-dominancelefties.html)

WILL THIS INFLUENCE HOW I COMPOSE PHOTOGRAPHS?  Probably not, since I have seen complaints when editors flip photos on magazine pages for artistic or aesthetic reasons -- In my world, people like photographs to be "real."  On the other hand, with more abstract images of scenes that people will not recognize, I want people to be attracted to them; and the left/right orientation may make a difference to many people.

I know this doesn't help, but a day later when I'm looking at it, I prefer A.  Obviously, this only tells us that I'm indecisive and doesn't actually say anything about the image itself. 

Max

In the older example you linked, I most definitely prefer the original post. The flow is much better to my eye. I am starting at the left and going right with it. And by the way, I am right-handed. 

Great discussion Wayne. Thanks again for bringing this topic up.

 have also read that people like Max, with mixed dominance, are also more likely to perceive text and images differently than the general public.  (... And that they are more frequently "gifted" in diverse ways from sports to higher mathematics. 

Now I know why I'm so different!  

I forgot to mention your other question.  I am right handed and left eye dominant.  I learned that years ago trying to figure out why I wasn't very good at skeet/trap shooting (shooting clay discs with shotgun.)  Anyway, sighting down the barrel of a gun if you're shooting right handed, you would close your left eye.  But because I'm left eye dominant, the target is not exactly where you see it is when looking through only the right eye.  If I was to shoot with gun on the left shoulder, close my right eye and sight through the left, the aim would be correct.  Anyway, I have NO IDEA what this has to do with the topic at hand....

To your second example.  Yes, a much different image and not as clear cut. However, the first one I still prefer because it's open on the left and the right is "receptive" for exploring.  The difference with this image is that the 2nd one, B, if effect "opens up" within the image simply the way the tree and it's reflection make one feel like it's opening, so to speak. Not sure if that makes sense.

One other note.  There's this whole thing of learned perceptions vs. facts.  If I was taught or learned early on about this left>right concept and I believe it, or it makes sense, then that by itself will always influence how I interpret an image.  It creates a bias. Doesn't mean it's correct, just that it is, a bias.

Good stuff!

Interesting stuff and thanks for starting this discussion. I have no strong preference for either A or B and like them both equally well. I am left handed, but my right eye is dominant. Perhaps life as a leftie has forced me to be more flexible since so much of what we encounter was designed for the majority righties.

As I typed this my wife came in and indicated a strong preference for A. She  right handed but I forgot to ask which eye is dominant.

I strongly prefer A. I think the flow provides a more mellow mood.

For the Bog River image, both work nicely, but the flipped repost seems to lead my eye better.

I am right handed, and right eye dominant.

Very interesting topic and discussion. Thanks for starting this, Wayne.
--P

 

I strongly prefer A over B but don't know why. The choice is less obvious in the 2011 images where I have no preference. I am right handed.

I prefer the A composition in this post, Wayne with the second version in the earlier post.  My preference, however, isn't too strong for this one, but is definite in the earlier one.  I tend to prefer compositions that open out to the right and agree that there's a lot of individual/cultural bias at play in it.  I'm right handed/right eyed.  I'll also note that I have on occasion flipped bird images horizontally, though they're usually flight images.  For probably the same reason, I tend to prefer them flying left to right, though I don't think I've ever bothered flipping a perched bird.

An interesting thread.  Thanks for starting it.

At first I preferred A as my eye followed the shoreline into the image.  However after studying the images I changed my mind and now prefer B.  I think this is due to the prominent outcropping in the center in A directing my eye away from the details, while in B the prominence calls for my eye to follow it into the dense details.  I am right handed and right eyed.

Great questions and very nice images.

A all the way, I am a lefty.

Wayne, Great topic!!
I am Right-handed, and prefer #1.
My eye moves from left to right, and I like the open-ness on the right side of #1.
To me, #2 seems "closed off" on the right side, with nothing left to imagine.

I also note that many/most bird / wildlife images are facing to the right. I've experimented with horizontal flips, so the animal is looking LEFT, but they seem awkward and un-natural to me.

I am sure this has to do partially with our learning English reading from left to right. 
I'd be interested to see the responses of members who read the Asian languages and others that go right to left.

Sandy R

I prefer A much more than B.  I'm right-handed but I'm left eye dominant.  I think I'm automatically attracted to left anchored images because my eye automatically goes to the upper left of a page since that's the way I read.  Interesting subject, Wayne.