Download Golden Section Viewer

using the golden Ratio viewer is very easy, from the opening screen simply click on the file menu and select Load from the drop down menu:

Select the Painting or photograph you wish to work with from the file browser and click open:

your picture will appear on screen with the basic Golden Ratio Grid superimposed over it, if you are not happy with the fit just click on the border of the window and resize it - the photo will resize in comparison with the grid (which always stays the same size)

New Feature : I’ve now added an ‘Image Size’ dial, by adjusting this control you can resize the picture compared to the Grid - as shown below:

To change the grid displayed over the picture, simply click on the ‘Grids’ menu and select the grid you wish to try out:

There are 12 different grids for you to try out, some more complex than others, Don’t worry about whether the grid fits the canvas properly, in real life canvases are rarely built to Golden section proportions so its usually a case of fitting the grid into the canvas in the best way that you can anyway.

By clicking on the arrows in the Horizontal or Vertical Offset windows its possible to shift the grid up/down or left/right in relation to the picture to get a better fit with the composition:

When you have a composition layout you are happy with you can print the image out to use as a reference picture - just click on ‘File’ then ‘Print’ (or ‘Print Preview’ if you want to see what will be printed first)

Remember, once you have printed your image it can be modified to extend the grid lines across the canvas like the image below which started off with the advanced triangle grid, which then was extended across the print with pen & ruler :

New Feature - Perspective Viewer

The golden ratio Viewer has been updated to include some extra grids:

‘Proportional golden section’ divides the picture vertically and horizontally by the golden section (note however that the rectangles created are no longer in true golden proportion)

‘Rule of Thirds’ simply divides the picture by 33% in either direction - a grid sometimes used by photographers as a rough guide to composition

The most useful new feature though is the ‘Perspective Grid’ to use this upload your picture then select ‘Perspective Grid’ from the ‘Grids’ menu this will bring up a perspective grid like this:

Of course at this point the grid isn’t aligned with the picture, so the first thing to do is to adjust the vertical offset until the green line is aligned with the horizon- in this photo I aligned the green line to the womans head (tip: if you can’t see the horizon then line up to an adults eyes - the horizon is always at eye level!):

once you have your horizon it should be fairly easy to use the horizontal offset to match the perspective lines to your photo as shown below:

Graham Hanks Portrait painter based in Doncaster Yorkshire producing portraits in oils and pastels