Contrast, Balance, Harmony... & Fallout

Ok, we're on our way to making a Fallout commercial (later comes the series).  We've been stocking up on props, have the materials for costumes (plus some already finished, and are in talks to get more legit props (just waiting on financing to pay supplier).  So the Lord be willing, we'll get the commercial done in a couple months and have the whole or most of the series script done by January 2013.

Now the assignment from the DSC Visual Communication class this time is to take a picture/photo from somewhere (be it a picture you found, a photo you took, etc) and to describe the contrast, balance, and harmony in it.

The Mojave wasteland Wanderer/Courier in front of former Las Vegas from Fallout: New Vegas
(all rights reserved to Bethesda Softworks)

Pretty much any photo can have contrast, balance, & harmony.  For those that are not sure what these mean for pictures, here's some quick definitions:

• Contrast = How the items in the photo stay separate
• Balance = How the items flow together, are in a sort of evenness
• Harmony = How the items compliment each other

In the above picture, you have in front of you contrast with the open space around the Wanderer below (utilizing the Gestalt principle of closure, we can assume the area behind the Wanderer is also desert) and the crowded New Vegas city above (utilizing the Gestalt principle of proximity).

For balance there's the pretty level line of the New Vegas wall/baracaide dividing the city from the wasteland, and though there's a lot of commotion above it wouldn't feel balanced without it being "tethered" to the central lone figure (the Wanderer) below. If the Wanderer was even slightly to the side, it'd feel as though the whole picture was wanting to tilt.

The harmony of the colors first grabs me because of they all are shades of yellow, orange, red, & brown. Also, the lights of New Vegas not only shine bright around itself, but they flow down the center to illuminate the Wanderer & the clouds above.