Thanks for the vote of confidence, Im familiar with the rule of thirds, as I am quite keen on my photography aswell, but again only just recently purchased camera, so learning slowly but surely. You will see that I have actually marked it out on the pit, and then when it came to scaping and placing the wood completely ignored it😂. I find it considerably easier to get the composition of a photograph in place than trying a pile of rocks and woods thats for sure. When you pointed it out, it was so much more obvious. Im not a scaper, and I wont ever pretend to be, but I do want something that is going to look quite natural to the eye for all my family to enjoy. Once this is up and running I have no intentions of taking it down an doing something else anytime soon. At the moment, the good lady is away working, hence how it was set up on our dining table She is back tommorow evening so it has now been dismantled.You're a quick study... That's already much less chaotic and easier to look at... From here on it is nitpicking details to refine it... What also helps is giving your eyes a rest, leave for a day (or 2) and then look again... Then you see new things you didn't notice before. And this can go on for a week or even longer, changing every day a bit, moving, replacing taking away or adding. Or start all over again.
In the end, the result should be something you could watch for a day without getting tired of it... Which is never the case with looking at something chaotic. This will make your eyes tired rather soon because you don't know where to look. I believe the more experienced scapers (artists) call this too much Tension... I'm still too far away from this to fully understand it, let stand see it and explain it.
Somehow it kinda works unconsciously, getting tired watching something without really knowing why. It should be Wabi Sabi... Which is more than an art actually but more a philosophy of life, to find and or create serenity with simplicity and imperfection. But this is the cradle of aqua scaping.
Wabi-sabi - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
thats much easier on my eye and most important you like it,Or maybe this one, I quite like it like this
Thanks bob, appreciated the honesty and suggestions. Its a progression for sure.thats much easier on my eye and most important you like it,
the wood looks like a stump and not the flooded remains of a formal garden
well done on being brave and taking a bit of anger out on the rocks, those fresh faces are no more,
I was going to keep the plants lower in that corner as I think the back right hand (top) corner is where I will put my AI Nero 3. Likewise with the back left I was thinking that it would help keep flow better. Furthermore, the co2 will be delivered inline, and im hoping that the Nero 3 will help distribute that better around the tank as it has a much wider stream than my steel lily pipe.Looks great to me. Does it need a bit of height, back right hand corner as viewed. Another rock to give it depth there. Or are you going to have a feature plant there. Sorry, trained as a theatrical designer years ago. Keep thinking in terms of the stage.
I understand where you are coming from, I thought that I could maybe plant one of the red stems at the back of the hole so that it would soften the focal point. I think a well placed rock under the piece of wood to the right would allow me to raise that piece higher in the aquarium. I detracted away from the layout on the 25th as I thought it might give too much mass at the top of the structure, thus reducing light to the plants underneath and also be harder to obtain better flow. Appreciate your thoughts, and will again ponder.Hi Paul, probably won't make it any easier for you but he's my thoughts.
The stones in the latest layout look more natural to me and I like the arch idea, but it draws your eye to the centre of the scape to much and not sure if plants to the right would be enough to deflect this. Personally I like how you placed the wood in your last pic on the 25th.
Obviously only you can envisage how all this is going to look once planted and ultimately beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Cheers.