Photography, just as any other form of visual art, has general rules of principles that will typically enhance the quality of the image. Although rules can be broken effectively, most high quality images use those principles. Today I will be examining 3 of those principles, and will be replicating with some of my own work.
Leading Lines
This is an image is titled Cobblestone Steps and was taken by Chip Forelli and can be found at
https://www.commarts.com/project/7407/cobblestone-steps
Leading lines are either the hard, or implied lines in an image that helps the view move around the image. This image using lines along the edges of the steps to move up the image. Then it will use the walls to lead up to the light as a focal point. This image then using the railing as a line to break away from that line to move around the edges of the image back to the bottom to make a full circle.
This image is my replication of this principle.
In this image. I used the chains and the woman’s arms as the leading lines to the boy. This brings the focus to the boy in the Image. On top of those lines that are obvious there is a hidden line that comes from the flair in the image. It forms a line that moves the eyes from the boy back to the woman, allowing for movement in the image to move around the image.
Depth of Feild
This image was taken by Patrick Molnar and can be found at
https://www.commarts.com/project/19294/usaa
Depth of field in a photograph is the area in which the image is focused. You can effectively use depth of field to bring attention to the subject, and communicate its relation to the rest of the image. In this particular image, the man in the center is in the depth of field, and it highlights what is behind him in the background. This allows for what I circled to be given a more clear relationship of being further away from the subject of the image. Because the man is surrounded by parts that are not in focus, it acts as an attention grabber for the man.
This image is my replication of this principle.
This image also uses depth of field to bring focus on the boy in the image, as well as relationship to the background. The green border highlights a relationship to the other people in the background as the play place. The red border shows that trees that are even more out of focus that give a further relationship. This image successfully highlights the boy, and provides 3 layers using the depth of field of the image.
Rule of Thirds
This image was taken by Jim Henderson and can be fount at
https://www.commarts.com/project/24109/ranch-family
The rule of thirds is a system for where you should place important objects and distribute the image. In this system you have imaginary lines dividing the image into thirds both vertically and horizontally. I have drawn these lines over this image so that we can see where everything lands. As we can see the parents each land on a line in the rule of thirds, and their heads are at the intersection points of the lines. The foreground where they are standing fits nicely into the bottom third of the image. Using this principle allows for great placement, balance, and moment in the image.
this image is my replication of this principle.
In this image the boy lines up in the left third line, and the center of his face landing in the center of an intersection. The playground equipment in the background takes up the right third of this image. This image successfully uses this principle to give placement, balance, and direction in the image.
Summary
We hear how in art that rules are meant to be broken. However, as we can see that great images usually follow these principles. Although I only highlighted a few of these principles, if you were to incorporate these principles into your photography, it will improve the quality of your images.