Tom Clark - Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

Any area of high contrast draws attention and so constitutes a point.

Small shapes and forms can create points. An oak tree on top of a hill in the distance, the moon in the sky, freckles on a person's skin, or a bird on a wire could each represent a point.

You use lines in a composition to lead a viewer from one point of interest in an image to another. These lines often are literal, such as a telephone pole and the wires attached to it or the shadows the pole and wires create. An element that has the visual impact of a line or is made up of lines generally is considered a line as far as design goes.

However, you also can use implied lines, which aren't as easy to spot as literal lines but are equally important for creating excellent compositions. An implied line can be created by the edge of a shape, the joining of two edges (like where the wall meets the floor), the direction a person is looking or pointing, or directional light. If something causes you to follow a linear path through the scene, consider it an implied line.

Figure 4–3 shows an image with a strong sense of lines. If not for the lines in this scene, I wouldn't have even taken my camera out of the bag. This image includes a few different design elements, but notice how the lines have the strongest visual impact. They work together to guide your eyes through the frame so you explore all the different details.

The telephone pole and the wires coming from it represent literal lines. The pole itself has the strongest presence in the scene, so it's the first thing to draw your eyes in. It does so because it makes up the point of highest contrast, is positioned along the left third of the frame, and is the largest element in the scene from this vantage point. The pole leads your eyes up to the wires, and they lead you into the vanishing point on the horizon.

24mm, 1/250 sec, f/U, 400

Figure 4–3:It's easy to see how lines lead your eyes through the frame in this image.

If you start to pay attention to the implied lines in the scene, you notice that everything leads your eyes to that same vanishing point, including the following: The tree line (or the line created by the tops of the trees), the lines created where the road meets the brush, the textures in the dirt road, and the texture and patterns created by the clouds in the sky. (I tell you more about the last effect in the later section "Considering Pattern Types.")

In fact, Figure 4–3 tells a story by using lines. Everything points out how distant the road is. Only trees, telephone poles, brush, sky, and the dirt road appear in this image. The message would be quite different if the frame included a house or a person walking along the road. This image, in its most basic sense, is about the relationship of lines and distance. As you explore the frame, you're constantly led back (by lines) to the area that represents the farthest distance.

In the following sections, I explain how to effectively use and position the different types of literal lines, and then I give you further guidance on seeing and including implied lines in your compositions.

The queen is the strongest piece in chess because she can move vertically, horizontally, and diagonally, which gives her access to the whole board. A strong photographic composition with lines guides viewers to points of interest in various ways as well.

You can use different types of lines to strengthen an image's message. People subconsciously make associations with lines based on whether they're vertical, horizontal, straight, curvy, diagonal, soft, edgy, or three-dimensional. In order to use lines as a design tool to create great compositions that get a clear message across, you need to understand what each type of line signals to viewers. Start by thinking about the common elements that a particular type of line reminds you of. The upcoming sections give you some examples of what message certain types of lines can portray.

Strong and stady: Vertical tines

The way viewers interpret a vertical line depends on the subject or element in question, but in general a vertical line appears strong, dignified, and sturdy.

Skyscrapers, for example, stand erect in a vertical line and represent height, strength, dignity, formality, and sturdiness. A person who stands with good posture represents those same characteristics; on the other hand, a person who slouches conveys a message of laziness, weakness, or informality.

The pole in Figure 4–3 leans slightly to the right, which keeps it from appearing sturdy. Had the pole been perfectly perpendicular to the ground, it would have seemed more permanent and less rickety.

Calm and expansive: Horizontal tines

Horizontal lines give a sense of calm and repose (like a person napping). They also can represent expansiveness and mass. A building that's wider than it is tall seems anchored, for example. The most common horizontal line, of course, is the horizon, which makes me think of gravity.

Consider your subject matter when determining how it will be represented as a horizontal line. A person lying in a grassy field will seem more relaxed than a person standing in a grassy field. A tabletop provides an area for items to rest, and people standing in a line offer a formal horizontal sequence for you to look at (much like the letters in this sentence). If vertical lines are dignified, horizontal lines are relaxed.

Lively and interesting: Diagonal tines

Diagonal lines can give a sense of energy. When something is in the process of falling over, it's diagonal; a person running is diagonal; and a palm tree blowing in the winds during a Miami hurricane is diagonal. Some may consider diagonal lines to be less formal than vertical and horizontal lines, but in that sense you could say that a diagonal line is more interesting.

Diagonals work well to connect areas within your image; combining them with other types of lines makes for a more dynamic composition as well. You also can achieve three-dimensionality in an image by using diagonal lines. For instance, if you were at the beach and pointing your camera straight out at the horizon, your image would have a horizontal shoreline and horizon and wouldn't offer a three-dimensional sense. If you pointed your camera up or down the shoreline, however, it would become diagonal and would gradually move closer to the horizontal horizon, giving the illusion of distance and depth, or three-dimensionality.

Graceful and depth-producing: Curly lines

Curved lines appear graceful, beautiful, sensual, fun, and organic. The shape of a woman's body, the idea of a winding country road in the mountains, and a river cutting through the forest all are idealized as being curvy. The most sought out type of lines in photography are those that have an S curve. This type of line is named as such because it looks like an S — it curves out to one direction and then comes back in the other.

Curvy lines (particularly S curves) can add a great deal of interest to your compositions. Use them to create graceful and sexy compositions or to add depth to an image. Like diagonal lines, curvy lines can stretch into the distance toward a vanishing point. Figure 4–4 shows you how curvy lines work to draw your eyes to where the dirt road gets lost in the mountains.

24mm, 1/50 sec, f/5, 50

Figure 4–4:Curvy lines can be used to give a sense of depth.

Certain recognizable actions or ideas in an image can create invisible lines. These are referred to as implied lines because you can't see them but you follow them anyway.