Why do we like contrasts?

Why do we like contrasts? Maybe because we are always uncertain whether to prefer the bad or the good girl. Actually I like both. And I can apply this theory to the ability of being either romantic and bonton or provocative and elusive.
It applies to many other things. For sweet or salty food; white and black; bright colours and pastel ones. Life is made up of light and shadow. We all love the contrasts.

Why do we like contrasts it’s not only a social issue

There are photos you like more than others. I got confirmation when a picture appeared in my Facebook feed and I thought: this is going to be successful. It was a shot that was able to say everything and the complete opposite of this at the same time. Soft and light tones, with a sudden dramatic melancholy. The shot was fashioned, but had great personality. It was both dark and cheerful at the same time.

And this photo ticked all the right boxes because there are photos, people like more than others. The photos that we prefer are almost always full of hidden meanings.

Of course in this day and age of social networks, it would be useless to deny that we aren’t all affected by the number of likes and positive comments that we get. But did we never ask why some shots get more ‘likes’ than others?

Some photos  have more “likes”  because we do like contrasts

This phenomenon is not only about the true nature of a picture and its being objectively more or less beautiful. For some people a good photo leverages certain feelings, for others it portrays something they aspire to and for others it is simply innate attraction, due to the ability of that picture to say many things together.

Like a Woody Allen movie that is often a rhapsody of emotions. Clichés, stereotypes, controversy and a continuous alternation of good and evil, which almost always has a happy ending. And we like this.

“To love is to suffer. If you do not want to suffer, you should not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, loving is suffering, not loving is suffering too, and suffering is  suffering. Being happy is loving: to be happy then is to suffer, but suffering makes us unhappy, therefore, to be unhappy one must love. About love and suffer. Or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you are taking notes”.” – Woody Allen

So, which is the rule of a photo we like?

The recipe for a picture that catches my attention is more or less the same and varies only if the subject is someone or something special for me.

A good deal of natural light, a veil of melancholy, slightly saturated colours, a little photo retouching and that certain air that’s vaguely decadent halfway between Paris at dusk and a sunny morning on a California beach. If you are able to add a touch of surreal atmosphere that refers to the infinite possible worlds, it’s complete!

But, in truth, does it really matter how many likes a photo receives? You should never pay too much attention to this. The important thing is to give it a soul, put your heart into it and think about the mood you have at that specificmoment.

This is ‘what will make a picture a success‘, more than other ones. At least for us.

Teddy bear coat United Colors of Benetton

https://ilovegreeninspiration.com/it/2016/01/17/23143/