Leading Lines

Of equal importance to the composition and subject matter of a strong photograph are leading lines. These take your viewer on a journey through your scene and create a three dimensional aspect. So, just what are leading lines? They're anything that draws the eye from one spot in the composition to another. It could be a winding road, a set of railway tracks, the edge of a beach or shoreline along a cove or inlet.

Dock at Whonnock Lake

This high contrast black and white shot invites the viewer to take a walk along the dock with you. What might be at the end of it? The grasses on either side focus the eye on the line, but still create an interesting texture.

Canoe on Whonnock Lake

Be careful with your choices, though. Some lines lead your viewer out of the scene and prevent them from going anywhere. This is an unfortunate composition. There are some good aspects to the shot, but they're hard to locate because of the choice of leading lines in the dock. The canoers in the upper right third are well placed and it's obvious that they are on their way somewhere; perhaps into the cove on the left. The water lilies in the lower left fill what would other wise be dead space, but don't overwhelm the viewer with detail. Diagonal lines can usually be considered strong and dynamic, but in this case they lead the eye right out of the frame. Nor, because of the composition itself can the dock be cropped out. The only option left to the photographer is to heavily edit the shot and replace it with something else. Very time consuming and the rest of the scene is not that spectacular to warrant the extra time and energy, unless it's used as a learning tool for Photoshop techniques.

Assignment

You guessed it. Go out and find yourself at least three or four scenes that contain a leading line. Don't forget to incorporate the other techniques you've learned up to now and as always, view them full screen after downloading.

Upcoming

On the next post, we'll start to evaluate your collection before moving on to other tips in composition.