Hello everyone, it’s Jennifer Valencia here with the 3rd article on photography! The first session was on The Rule Of Thirds and the second session covered Fill The Frame. Today I’ll focus on leading lines, framing and using patterns.
Leading Lines: Strong lines in a photograph can pull your eye around the image and make it more visually appealing. Leading lines can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or curved. The S-curve is a particularly powerful line; when used well in a photograph it acts almost like a magnet to your eye, guiding it around and through the photo. Leading lines are used well if they guide your eye to the primary subject or from the subject to the background. Next time you compose a photograph, look around the location for strong interesting lines that you can include in your photograph — see if you like the way it looks!
S-Curve: Leading Lines Guide the Eye
Leading Lines and Reflections
Leading Lines Guide The Eye
Pavement lines run through the picture
The railing leads to the group of girls
Leading Lines
The fence line leads to the subjects
Line of buried tires leads to the girls on the slide
Strong lines of water and cement lead to subject
Framing: Using part of the scenery to provide a natural frame for your main subject can help the subject really stand out. It can also make the photo look more three-dimensional and lively; for example, if you have some tree fronds hanging down in front of a landscape you get the appearance of both near and far, and it give the illusion of depth within the photo. If a landscape photo looks too “flat” — when everything is the same distance away — it might fail to evoke the majesty of the real thing. By adding something close-up to the photo in addition to the far-off things, a photographer can regain that feeling of depth, and make the photograph more appealing. Framing does not have to mean that you always center a person in the middle of a door frame or window frame, or that you ALWAYS have tree branches hanging in front of a landscape. You can use all kinds of things as “frames” — swingsets, slinkies, a wreath, hands – in addition to frames and doorways.
Falls are framed by ferns, adding more dimension to the photo
Their heads are framed by the curving branches
They are framed by the archway and tall cacti in the garden
They are framed by concentric circles in the exhibit
She is framed by concentric swingset curves
She is framed by the Slinky
Patterns: Close-up patterns are fun to photograph because they can show textures or shapes that otherwise might go unnoticed in a pull-back shot. When taking a picture of a pattern, it’s often a good idea to use a small aperture (large f number) such as f/8 or higher. If you have a very shallow depth of field, where some parts of the pattern are in focus and others are not, it detracts from the “patterny” look of the whole picture and makes the part in focus stand out more than the rest.
Patterns of color and shadows
pattern of moss and rocks
Pattern of rocks and borders
Pattern of roof and bamboo plants
Patterns - Roof of Balloon Art Exhibit
Swarming koi make an artistic pattern in the water
Next time you’re out with your camera, look for places you can use leading lines or framing as a way to add visual interest to your photo, and keep an eye out for interesting patterns. Please share your work, too. Link us up to a picture you’ve taken that uses framing, leading lines, or shows a cool pattern. Thanks for reading, and happy shooting!
Thanks, Jennifer. I really enjoyed looking through your examples about leading lines and framing. Will try to include those more often to add a bit of zip to my photos. Great post!
Great post Jennifer! I’m always looking to improve my pictures.
I’ve just spent a couple of hours analysing my photos. I use all of these routinely but it seems I’m particularly fond of leading lines. I’m posting some of my better examples in my gallery.
LOVE all your photos Jennifer! such a great blog series.