What is Beauty?
Beautiful, the adjective used by millions to describe billions of objects. Whether it is the sunset on a summer evening, the girl on the cover of the Vogue, or the bolt of lightning that strikes during a storm, visual beauty has certain universal qualities surrounding it. To fully comprehend what visual beauty is one must first understand what makes the beautiful, beautiful. What can sunsets, supermodels, and lightning bolts possibly have in common? It is not an immensely complicated sum total of billions of complex characteristics working together to produce a resulting emotion. No, when observed through a simple eye the solution is much more elementary than one would expect. This simple eye is not attached to a brain, has no intelligence of its own, but is still capable of producing the world's most beautiful, breathtaking, and astonishing images. This eye is the camera, and its purpose is to capture the very thing that makes objects beautiful: the contrasting, shading, and shadowing of light in pattern.
The dictionary defines light as electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength. Thus, when we say light it is inclusive also of color. Differences in light wavelengths produce an image capable of being read by our eyes. The combination of these separate wavelengths, in certain universal patterns, is the underlying principle of how beauty is created. Although it is impossible to discuss all the imaginable light combinations and patterns which are beautiful, one can be trained to identify certain key characteristics that are often used in the depiction of beautiful objects. By examining similar images of beauty, such as the presented lightning photographs, it is much easier to recognize the key combinations of light intensity and contrast used in the creation of those works. Many of the patterns found in these photographs are also found in beautiful images not of lightning. Thus, one can begin to piece together what combinations of patterns are used in the creation of beautiful images.
Perhaps the most obvious, as well as universal object, in all ten images is the lightning itself. The lightning is definitely there, but how can we tell? What characteristics of the lightening make it stand out against the background of the picture? Why does it appear to jump off the picture? The answers to these questions lie in the in the brilliance of the lightning. In each of the ten images, especially images 1,2, and 3, the lightning is the brightest part of the image. Not only are the bolts extremely bright, but they are encompassed by dark surroundings. Thus, through such extreme contrast, the lightning bolt creates a powerfully beautiful image that appears to "leap" from the picture.
Chiaroscuro, the contrast of light areas to dark areas, plays an important role in giving each image magnitude. The contrasting of light and dark in the clouds of images 4,5,6, and 8 are good examples. Image 5 captures a spectacular view of an enormous cloud. The contrast of the light areas to the darker areas gives the cloud depth and enormity. Chiaroscuro is a common pattern found in many beautiful images.
Clearly the contrasting of extremely light areas to extremely dark areas contributes to making each image beautiful, but what of the area in-between? Unlike the extreme contrast of brilliance to near black, the use of subtle lightening does not create such sharp distinctions. Instead it creates smooth and faint transition in the tone of some areas of the image. Examples of such fluid transitions can be seen in images 7,9, and 10. Image 7 is unique in that the entire image has no exceptionally dark areas. Therefore, it produces a tranquil effect, while image 10 uses light shading to procure a different reaction. By combing gradual transition with sharp contrast image 10 creates an angry overall tone in the picture. The use of gradual lightening is another pattern in light manipulation, which contributes to the beauty of an image.
Through examination it can be found that beautiful images have many similar patterns concerning their distribution of light and color. Beauty stems directly from a combination of low and high level contrast. It is the difference in light, set in specific pattern, which appeals to our senses. For example, a plain color photograph of an ordinary apple, with an over-head sun, would not be beautiful. However, if that same apple were later photographed with black and white film, during the late afternoon, it would take on a whole new personality. The black and white film would highlight even small changes in light intensity, which would fall at an angle, due to the setting sun, causing a shadow. The sunset too, is a fine example. Few would venture to say a simple image of the sun is beautiful, but most would agree that a sunset image is. Why is this? The sunset picture follows a pattern: a bright setting orb of flames, surrounded by a gradually changing hews of color, and eventually a sharp edge of darkness. The definition can also be applied to the art of creating music. By combing different frequencies, of varying extremes, in discernable patterns, beautifully crafted works are created. Patterning in music is also very important, the bass line and refrain demonstrate this concept quite well. One comes to appreciate beauty through recognition of patterns in contrast.