One Photo, Four Stories: Exploring the Fibonacci Spiral with Wise Photos App
- Aldo
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Have you ever wondered how a single photograph can tell multiple stories? The secret often lies not in the image itself, but in how you compose it. Today, we're exploring one of photography's most fascinating composition techniques—the Fibonacci Spiral—and how it can transform a simple bowl of citrus fruits into four distinct visual narratives.
The Magic of the Fibonacci Spiral
Before we dive into our experiment, let's understand what makes the Fibonacci Spiral so special. Derived from the Golden Ratio (approximately 1.618), this spiral mimics patterns commonly found in nature, from seashells and flower petals to galaxies. It creates a natural flow that guides viewers' eyes through an image in an organic, pleasing way.
The Fibonacci Spiral is particularly powerful because it:
Creates natural movement and flow within a photo
Adds depth and visual interest to otherwise simple scenes
Emphasizes different elements depending on its orientation
Guides the viewer's eye from the main subject to supporting elements (or vice versa)
What makes this composition technique truly versatile is that you can rotate, flip, and reposition it to create entirely different narratives with the same image.
Our Experiment: One Photo, Four Compositions
Using the Wise Photos app on iPad, we'll take a single photograph of citrus fruits in a wooden bowl and apply the Fibonacci Spiral in different orientations. For each variation, we'll consider whatever falls under the smallest part of the spiral (the focal point) as our main subject, with everything else becoming supporting elements.
Let's see how dramatically the story changes with each adjustment!
Composition 1: The Grapefruit Story
In our first composition, the spiral's focal point highlights the grapefruit half in the upper right. The spiral begins small around this vibrant pink centerpiece, then sweeps outward across the bowl, guiding our eyes through the other citrus fruits.
Interestingly, while the grapefruit isn't technically in sharp focus (it's positioned toward the back of the bowl), the Fibonacci Spiral draws our attention to it anyway, demonstrating how composition can sometimes override technical aspects like focus. Despite being slightly blurred, the grapefruit feels like the largest, most prominent element when emphasized by the spiral.
The story here becomes about the star of the fruit bowl—the grapefruit—with the other fruits playing supporting roles. The eye naturally follows the spiral's path from the grapefruit down through the lemons, limes, and oranges.
This composition emphasizes contrast, with the pink grapefruit standing out against the yellows, greens, and oranges. It creates a narrative about the standout element in an otherwise harmonious collection.
Composition 2: The Orange in Focus
By rotating the spiral, we now place the focal point on a whole orange in the lower left corner of the bowl. This changes our story entirely.
With the orange as our main subject, the narrative becomes more about wholeness and potential. Unlike the cut grapefruit, this orange remains intact, telling a different story. The spiral now guides us from this perfect sphere toward the sliced fruits, creating a journey from wholeness to transformation.
This composition also takes advantage of how people naturally scan images from left to right (in Western cultures). By positioning the main subject on the left, we're aligning with this natural reading pattern, making the orange feel more prominent despite being smaller than the grapefruit. The orange becomes our entry point to the image, giving it greater storytelling weight.
Notice how the wooden bowl now takes on a more prominent supporting role, with its curve mimicking the spiral's path. This composition feels more grounded, with the weight of the main subject anchoring the lower portion of the image.
Composition 3: The Lemon Slice Center Stage
For our third composition, we've utilized the Wise Photos app's powerful zoom feature, focusing more closely on the lemon slice nestled inside the bowl. Rather than just rotating the spiral, we've zoomed in to create a tighter, more intimate frame. This creates a "story within a story" effect, where the main subject is actually contained within the larger environment.
We've also used the app's pan features to simplify the image by eliminating the orange from the left side of the frame. This subtle adjustment makes a significant difference—the composition feels more intimate, simpler, and remarkably coordinated.
What makes this version particularly satisfying is the visual rhyming that emerges: the lemon wedge in focus matches the large whole lemon next to it, the lime corresponds with a small, almost unnoticeable lime wedge, and the grapefruit connects with a similar fruit partially visible in the bowl. These visual echoes create a harmonious, cohesive composition that feels intentionally designed rather than randomly arranged.
The slice's detailed texture and inner pattern become our focal point, drawing attention to the intricate structure of the fruit. From there, the spiral guides us outward to the whole fruits, reversing our previous journey—now we move from the part to the whole.
This composition creates a sense of discovery, as though we're zooming in to appreciate the details before stepping back to see the bigger picture. I really love how this particular arrangement brings out the relationships between the different elements!
This artistic composition is my favorite. There is visual rhyme in colors and elements. The lemon wedge within a smaller bowl is like an offering to the Gods. There is no doubt that the lemon wedge is the main subject, and the rest are supporting elements.
Composition 4: The Lime's Tale
For this composition, we've zoomed out slightly and panned to expose more of the bowl's bottom and the darker right side of the table. This adjustment creates an interesting lighting dynamic, as the light source comes from the left and casts shadows on the right side of the frame.
With the Fibonacci Spiral positioned to highlight the bright green lime, we create a story about contrast—not just in color (with the lime's vibrant green standing out against the predominantly yellow and orange palette), but also in lighting. The lime sits in a transitional zone between light and shadow, drawing attention through this luminous boundary.
What makes this composition challenging is that while the lime is our intended main subject (positioned at the smallest part of the spiral), the grapefruit now appears centered in the frame, competing for attention. This tension between compositional intent and natural visual hierarchy creates an interesting dynamic that demonstrates how the Fibonacci Spiral sometimes must work against other powerful visual elements.
The expanded view of the darker areas adds depth to the composition, revealing more of the environment and grounding the fruit bowl in its space. This arrangement invites viewers to explore the interplay between light and shadow, color and form, focal point and context.
This artistic composition is my second favorite. The darkness on the right side makes me feel nostalgic, as if the image elements world is an empty, dark place.
What This Experiment Teaches Us
This simple exercise demonstrates several powerful lessons about composition and visual storytelling:
The main subject determines the story. By simply shifting what we designate as the main subject (through spiral placement), we completely change the narrative.
Direction creates emotion. The direction of the spiral's flow—whether it moves upward, downward, or across the frame—influences the emotional tone of the image.
Context shifts with focus. Elements that were merely supporting in one composition become central in another, showing how context is relative to focus.
Harmony exists in multiple arrangements. All four compositions "work" despite their differences, showing that visual harmony isn't about one correct arrangement but about relationships between elements.
Try It Yourself with the Wise Photos App
What makes the Wise Photos app so valuable for exercises like this is its flexibility. Unlike static composition grids, the Wise Photos app, with its 15 artistic compositions, including the Fibonacci Spiral, can be:
Rotated to any angle
Flipped horizontally or vertically
Resized to fit your specific image
Repositioned anywhere within the frame
This allows endless experimentation with your existing photos. You might discover that images you considered ordinary suddenly reveal hidden compositional potential when viewed through the lens of the Fibonacci Spiral.
Here's how to try this exercise yourself:
Open an existing photo in the Wise Photos app
Select the Fibonacci Spiral from the composition options
Observe the image and design what needs to be the main subject
Position the smallest part of the spiral over what you want as your main subject
Experiment with different orientations by rotating the spiral
Consider how each position tells a different story
Beyond Technical Composition
While the Fibonacci Spiral offers technical guidance for composition, its true power lies in storytelling. By understanding how to manipulate this tool, you're not just arranging elements more pleasingly—you're consciously directing your viewer's journey through the image.
The beauty of the Fibonacci Spiral is its bidirectional nature. Some viewers will be drawn first to the smallest part of the spiral, making it an excellent position for your main subject. Others, particularly in left-to-right reading cultures, might follow the spiral from its wider end inward, experiencing your composition as a journey that culminates at the spiral's center. This dual potential allows you to create compositions that work on multiple levels, offering different narrative experiences depending on how the viewer engages with the image.
This natural movement—whether inward or outward—allows you to craft a visual narrative that unfolds organically as the viewer explores your image, creating a sense of discovery and connection.
The next time you're photographing scenes with natural curves or organic elements—whether landscapes, portraits, or still life arrangements—consider how the Fibonacci Spiral might enhance your composition. Or better yet, revisit your photo library with fresh eyes and the Wise Photos app to discover new stories hiding in your existing images.
For in-depth information, explainer videos, gallery of examples, and storytelling with the Fibonacci Spiral, visit the Artistic Photo website
Update
I received strong opposition to my selection of the lemon wedge as the main subject in composition 3. I was told that the whole lemon in the bottom right corner is the true main subject. It's one of the largest elements, it's the brightest, it's off-center and on the edge of the bowl, and the framing and composition still maintain color rhythm. "There's no doubt that the lemon is the one!"
The great thing about using the Wise Photos app is that I can try this artistic configuration quickly. I can see they are right, so thank you for letting me know.
