Points to Remember

Lines:

The photographer can direct the eye of the viewer into the photograph by means of different kind of lines. These lines can make a statement.

• Meaning: dignity, height, strength, grandeur
• Where: trees, tall buildings, fences, people standing up, mountains, etc.

• Meaning: repose, calm, tranquillity, peacefulness
• Where: person lying in the grass sleeping, flowers in a field, the flatness of a lake.

• Meaning: force, energy, motion
• Where: trees bent by the wind, a runner at the starting line, the slope of a mountain

Use lines of perspective to direct the eye into the subject of the picture and back out again.

By knowing this you can create Force, Energy and Motion with your camera easily by tilting the camera to make objects appear to be in a diagonal line. A dignified church steeple when photographed at a slant will change to a forceful arrow pointing towards the sky and show motion.

Don't be lazy

It only takes a few minutes to get a better shot.

Too much information

Sometimes you lose focus of the purpose of the photograph.

In-camera cropping

The building holds little interest so don't forget that the camera has a portrait as well as a landscape format.

Over Head - Under Eye

So, you can simplify your pictures and strengthen your center of interest by:

• selecting uncomplicated backgrounds
• avoiding unrelated subjects
• moving in close.

If you want to make your subject even more dynamic, place it slightly off center in your frame

Generally, pictures with subjects directly in the center tend to be more static and less interesting than pictures with off-center subject placement.

Through a Screen

A ho-hum shot can be enhanced by using a foreground pattern like this one which could have been a sewage piple or a rolled up magazine. The same effect can achieved with a foreground of tree leaves or plants.