February Tutorial – Leading Lines
As I said earlier, we will be running the January and February photo assignments concurrently. On Thursday, I talked about Symmetry and Patterns in composition. Today, you’re going to learn about using lines effectively in your images’ compositions.
There are various types of lines that can be used when composing photographs to create visual impact. They can add depth, draw the viewer’s eye to a focal point or area of interest, and they can often elicit moods in photographs by giving the illusion of motion.
Various types of lines used include vertical, horizontal, diagonal, curved and converging lines.
Vertical:
These type of lines are easy to find in our photos: buildings, trees and standing subjects are all indicative of a vertical line. Note how in the following photo, the sailboat masts draw your eye up into the white space, or sky, in this case:
Taken with Nikon D300S and 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens at f/8, 1/400 sec., ISO 200
Horizontal:
This type of line naturally occur in images and usually elicit feelings of tranquility or stability. Horizons, sunsets, shorelines, even your subject laying in the grass are all examples of horizontal lines. These horizontal lines, often set in the lower or upper half of the photo (as per my September tutorial on the Rule of Thirds), act to anchor the rest of the image.
Taken with Nikon D70 and 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 lens at f/3.5, 1/60 sec., ISO 200
Sometimes, an image of a horizon can seem boring when it is not broken up by other objects. Not in the case of the photo above, where the landscaping on the left and the boats dotting the horizon, break up the scene and keep it from remaining static.
Diagonal:
Diagonal lines in an image give a sense of motion or energy to a photo. They can also point your reader to your subject of interest, such as the rays of sunlight lead your eye directly to the ship, in this beautiful photo by Ken Schulze.
Taken with Nikon D300
Curved:
Curved lines denote beauty and gracefulness in an image, especially when it is leading to a focal point, as the rock breakfront in this image draws you to the lighthouse in this image:
Taken with Nikon D80 and 18-135mm VR lens at f/13, 1/640 sec., ISO 400
Another curved line is the “S” curve. According to William Hogart, in his book, The Analysis of Beauty, the “S” curve is referred to as the Line of Beauty. You can see it over and over again in paintings and drawings – and photography is no exception. Look at the beautiful lines of the instrument in this image by Kent Landerholm – not only is the ”S” curve represented by the shape of the instrument, but also in the F-hole :
Taken with Nikon D80
Converging:
Converging lines convey depth and distance. The human eye is naturally drawn to converging lines, so including them in your photo increase its’ impact and interest. You can use railway tracks, fence lines, , roads, pathways, stairs or any other set of parallel lines, such as this boardwalk at my local marina:
Taken with Nikon D80 and 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens at f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 400
As you may have noticed from the above examples, lines occur naturally in our environments – it’s up to us to train our eyes to look for them when composing our photos. So grab your camera and look around and try to become aware of naturally occuring lines.
February 2011 photography assignment:
Using the February tutorial as a guide, capture lines in your images to enhance composition. Explore your surroundings and look for various types of lines. As always, if you have any questions, please leave me a comment on this post, or email me at sue {AT} canadianscrapbooker {DOT} ca.
Deadline: 11:59 pm EST, February 28th, 2011
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:
1) Because the whole purpose of the tutorial is to get you to experiment with your camera, submitted photos must have been taken between January 7th and February 28th, 2010, inclusive. Photos that do not meet this criteria may be shared on the blog but will not be eligible for our contest.
2) Please send original-sized photos – I will size them for our blog.
3) And PLEASE don’t forget to include your camera settings, including camera used, f/stop, aperture and ISO settings for your image in the Comments section of the submisson form! Submissions that do not include this info may not be posted on the blog or included in the prize drawing.
Please submit your photo, using only our submission form (no emails, please!), for a chance to be entered into our draw to win an awesome prize. A randomly chosen entry will be drawn after the deadline. Please note – submissions that are not relative to the tutorial and/or do not abide by these rules will not be posted on the blog, or entered into the draw. Please click HERE to review the rules regarding this draw BEFORE submitting.
Our prizes for both the January and February photo assignment contests will be revealed shortly!
Happy Clicking!
Sue has been behind a camera for more than 25 years, working professionally as a photographer for the last ten years. While she began the hobby of scrapbooking in 2000, as a complement to her photographer career, it soon grew into a rival passion! Sue loves to enlarge one of her favourite photos and make it the focal point of her page, using her supplies to bring the focus onto her photography. She has, in recent years, turned more to scrapbooking "moments" rather than "events", choosing to leave her children more insight into her point of view of their lives.
