Image Essay 2

As I was searching for images that represented freedom, I came upon this image of butterflies. I view butterflies as a symbol of freedom because they are free to wander around and are rarely caged. Butterflies are so symmetrical in shape, but the way they are situated in this image, the composition looks asymmetrical. The butterfly that appears most dominant in size is the blue one in the corner because it expands past the edges of the page. This butterfly appears to be the biggest when the viewer follows the line of the wings out past the edges of the page to predict the actual size of the butterfly. The two butterflies in the middle are subordinate in shape because they seem to be medium in size and are very similar in size to each other. The viewer's eye would move from the dominant butterfly in the corner to the two butterflies in the middle and then up to the smaller butterflies in the upper left hand corner. The viewer's eye does not move around the page because of the way the composition is set up. The eye moves from the bottom right hand corner straight to the upper left hand corner because that is the direction in which all of the butterflies are facing. The wings are accented with great detail which gives the butterflies some texture. Having the wings overlap each other gives the composition a sense of depth. It makes the butterflies appear three dimensional rather than laying flat on the page.