Gothenburg Nudes IX: Bike Ride

The picture above was inspired by a recent bike ride. My son and I went to a second hand market in the small village of Jonsered to hunt for Lego. I took the opportunity to take a few background and reference photos.

I had planned to include a picture with a bike in the Gothenburg nudes series. The one above is not what I imagined from the start, but I do think it works better.

Most of the time, I use very simple compositions based on the Rule of Thirds. It is not the only compositional rule I use, but for a photographer, who often has to compose a picture very quickly, and has limited control of what is in the frame, the Rule of Thirds can easily become the GoTo compositional tool.

In this picture, I still use the Rule of Thirds, but I have added a triangle. The sides are the woman's body, her shadow on the ground, and a part of the bicycle frame.

Triangular composition is very common in painting, but most painters use equilateral triangles. I used a right-angled triangle instead. It's less common, but it still works.

If you are interested in how I built the picture up using photos and 3D elements, check out my pictures on ArtStation.