Maths and Art: An Approach to My Photography*
For the longest time, I kept my two great loves separate: my fascination with the rigid beauty of mathematics and the creative freedom of photography and music. To me, one was all about finding the single right answer, and the other was about endless possibilities. It is just beginning to make sense. It is what fascinates me, and I want to share some of my thoughts with you.
The more I am active with photography, God’s creations & the ‘natural wonders’ of the Earth we live in and our God given ability to appreciate music; the more I realise that math isn't just a tool for science; it is, quite literally, the hidden grammar of great Art and of Nature.
How come?
We often talk about art being subjective—it’s just a feeling, right? Well, it turns out that there’s an entire field called Computational Aesthetics that argues otherwise. It uses the cold, hard logic of algorithms and numbers to define and even generate beauty. It all clicked for me when I learned about the foundational concept from mathematician George David Birkhoff. He called it the Aesthetic Measure (M), defined by the ratio of Order and Complexity.
This ratio that is proposed is not just a another formula; it was a psychological insight into why certain compositions just feel right.
Order is the harmony, the regularity, the sense of unity I strive for in my shots. When I nail the symmetry or align a subject perfectly along a grid line, I'm maximising “O”. It's the visual payoff that makes a photo satisfying to look at.
Complexity is the visual effort it takes to process the image. Too much clutter, too many competing elements, and I'm forcing the viewer to work too hard. A high “C” might make a photo feel chaotic or tiring.
The formula showed me that my best photos are those that offer a high degree of Order with a manageable level of Complexity. It’s the perfect, mathematical balance of reward for effort.
I used to think that applying the Rule of Thirds or hunting for the Golden Ratio was just following an arbitrary rule. Now, I see these principles as pure applied geometry.
the lens I use is built on equations of optics.
the aperture settings are based on ratios and logarithmic scales.
and, the very process of editing a digital photo is done through algorithms built on matrix algebra and wavelet theory.
And when I’m using my phone camera's A.I. to pick the "best" shot? That’s Deep Learning at work, having studied millions of images to understand, mathematically, what makes a photo visually compelling. The A.I. is simply measuring how closely my image aligns with the learned parameters of high Aesthetic Measure. The magic in my photography isn't about ignoring the rules; it's about deeply understanding the mathematical principles that govern perception. They give me the framework, the grammar, to communicate beauty universally.
