Quick Tip – Lines

When we see the words photography and lines in the same sentence they are usually followed by the words converging or leading.  And why not?  Those are some solid compositional tools, right up there with the Rule of Thirds.  There are a lot of other ways you can use lines to enhance your composition as well.

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Lines, when connected, make shapes.  When shapes are put together in different ways they create asymmetrical and/or symmetrical patters that are appealing to the eye.  The lines of the bricks as well as the cobble stone in the road contrast nicely with the rounded lines on the chair.  The colors certainly help here as well but the lines are what really pull the photo together.  Converted to black and white you’d still have an appealing photograph because of all the lines.

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When composing photographs look for more than just blatant lines that lead the viewer’s eye to your subject, look for smaller lines that make shapes and move this way and that creating nice contrast within the photograph.  Of course, it always helps to have interesting subject matter that invokes thought and imagination…  And for that I’d like to thank the empty chair for enduring the long photo session that ensued our introduction.

As a side note, if you look at the photograph long enough the chair starts to kind of look like a sad duck.  The bolts holding the backrest in are it’s eyes and the seat is its bill.  Or is it just me?  Hope you enjoyed, come quack back soon.


If you see a tip or challenge you’d like to attempt you can submit your results on our Submit an Article page.  We love seeing what you come up with and submitting things to PhotolisticLife is a good source of vitamin C (It’s not, that is preposterous… I’m surprised you believed me).

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