Leading lines in photography can be a powerful compositional tool. This simple technique helps a photographer bring the viewer's eye to a focal point, and gives a picture an overall structure in terms of layout.
The viewer's eye naturally follows any strong line in a photo. You can use a structure like a telephone pole, or even a man-made road, to guide the gaze. You can also use natural elements like trees or intense shadows, or even pose a human subject so that the posture creates a point of focus in the picture.
This controls the way an eye sees the picture, which you can use to create a calming, symmetrical, and harmonious experience for the viewer by providing a single strong line. You can also use multiple lines to create a tense or dramatic composition, by having the focus drawn in several directions with lines that intersect each other or compete for attention. When you learn the range of how to use this technique, you will be able to more effectively present different kinds of emotional content, so it is well worth trying to master this as a tool.
Sometimes this will naturally happen in a picture, almost as a happy accident, such as if you were to shoot a road heading into a setting sun on the horizon line. You may also choose a shot with this technique in mind, such as when you pose a person's portrait so that shadows or the branches of a nearby tree grab the viewer's attention, and meaningfully draw the focus to the face of the person who you are trying to capture.
This idea is useful not only when taking the pictures, but when editing them later. When at the stage of deciding whether or not to crop a photo, many photographers will look to see whether that kind of framing can bring a line to a viewer's attention and create a more powerful image, even if that was not intended at the time the photo was shot. Another way to bring this visual aspect out in an existing picture is by changing the contrast or the white balance to make some elements grab more attention.
This technique can help you lend motion to a photograph, as you make the visual journey dynamic and exciting by the way you lead the spectator's experience of the image. If you wish to draw the eye beyond the edge of the photo's frame, you can use strong lines to suggest a focal point just outside the picture itself.
Many formal training courses include particular tasks that are meant to help emerging photographers master this technique. If you are doing photography as a hobby, or are teaching yourself the medium, you may benefit from concentrating on this tool during a particular session, or a period of your work, as a way to integrate it into your growing artistic abilities. It isn't difficult to master, and can prove very beneficial to your photography skills as they continue to develop.
With the amount of emotional power and compositional control leading lines in photography offer, it's no surprise that so many books about photography include this technique. It's no surprise either that many photographers, both professional and amateur, make use of this fairly easy way to control the viewer's experience of their work.
The viewer's eye naturally follows any strong line in a photo. You can use a structure like a telephone pole, or even a man-made road, to guide the gaze. You can also use natural elements like trees or intense shadows, or even pose a human subject so that the posture creates a point of focus in the picture.
This controls the way an eye sees the picture, which you can use to create a calming, symmetrical, and harmonious experience for the viewer by providing a single strong line. You can also use multiple lines to create a tense or dramatic composition, by having the focus drawn in several directions with lines that intersect each other or compete for attention. When you learn the range of how to use this technique, you will be able to more effectively present different kinds of emotional content, so it is well worth trying to master this as a tool.
Sometimes this will naturally happen in a picture, almost as a happy accident, such as if you were to shoot a road heading into a setting sun on the horizon line. You may also choose a shot with this technique in mind, such as when you pose a person's portrait so that shadows or the branches of a nearby tree grab the viewer's attention, and meaningfully draw the focus to the face of the person who you are trying to capture.
This idea is useful not only when taking the pictures, but when editing them later. When at the stage of deciding whether or not to crop a photo, many photographers will look to see whether that kind of framing can bring a line to a viewer's attention and create a more powerful image, even if that was not intended at the time the photo was shot. Another way to bring this visual aspect out in an existing picture is by changing the contrast or the white balance to make some elements grab more attention.
This technique can help you lend motion to a photograph, as you make the visual journey dynamic and exciting by the way you lead the spectator's experience of the image. If you wish to draw the eye beyond the edge of the photo's frame, you can use strong lines to suggest a focal point just outside the picture itself.
Many formal training courses include particular tasks that are meant to help emerging photographers master this technique. If you are doing photography as a hobby, or are teaching yourself the medium, you may benefit from concentrating on this tool during a particular session, or a period of your work, as a way to integrate it into your growing artistic abilities. It isn't difficult to master, and can prove very beneficial to your photography skills as they continue to develop.
With the amount of emotional power and compositional control leading lines in photography offer, it's no surprise that so many books about photography include this technique. It's no surprise either that many photographers, both professional and amateur, make use of this fairly easy way to control the viewer's experience of their work.
About the Author:
Parker Michaels is a new media consultant and freelance photographer. For more information on leading lines in photography, visit www.photo-junkie.com.
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