Using Leading Lines & Framing Techniques for Better Compositions (Composition Part II)

My previous blog on composition focused mainly on the rules of thirds. This is a topic that I will return to several times in my posts regarding improving photography. I like to use a baseball analogy when thinking of photography. To become proficient in composition areas like the rule of thirds must be thought of and practiced. After each time you put these elements into practice, you quickly find that they become second nature. It isn't uncommon however to get so comfortable that you may find yourself falling back into bad habits. It's very similar to how you can see an infielder fall back into fielding ground balls from the side, failing to cover the ball with their throwing hand, and many find themselves skipping a critical step, in the case of the infielder, making the motion to throw the runner out before fully catching the ball. In baseball, the remedy is to realize that you are going through the motions in auto-pilot, and that even the best players, will from time to time, have to take a step back, and concentrate on the fundamentals. The same holds true for photographers. As you progress as a photographer, you find yourself learning and becoming proficient in more advanced techniques, but it isn't uncommon to find yourself like an infielder attempting to make a play before catching the ball, thinking a step or two ahead, only to find yourself making fundamental mistakes. The remedy is quick and easy. The hardest part however, is taking a moment to evaluate a folder of two of recent captures and realizing that you may be rushing through the "easy" parts. This happens to everyone, regardless of how skilled they are. In this blog article, the rule of thirds will be featured throughout. Though I will be specifically discussing two other topics tonight, take a moment to look at the elements in the photos, and ask yourself why does this photo work. And like in my previous post, I'm going to throw in a mistake filled shot or so.

The first topic I'm going to talk about is the use of leading lines in composition, but before doing so, I'm going to very briefly discuss what are known as the elements of art, of which leading lines is a branch of one of the main elements that have been the foundation of art for thousands of years. The other elements, I will discuss more in depth in future lessons. There are seven widely accepted elements. 1. Form is the element that gives what in photography is a two dimensional media, a convincing sense of being a three dimensionality. 2. Shape, which can easily be confused with form, and while they can be 2d or 3d. Think of a pyramid, the shape of a pyramid is a basic triangle. All of the the elements of art work together, so if you take the triangle, and add a third line, with shading you in essence have both shape (the triangle), being expanded on to add form. 3. Color may seem the easiest element to grasp, and in some ways I would say it is, but their is more to it then just the simplistic red, yellow, green, etc. That I'll get into later. 4. Texture is another easy concept, yet like color has more elements to it. Texture refers to surface structure which is three dimensional, and in regard to art, especially two dimensional varieties of art, such as painting and photography make it not so easy as just thinking in terms of rough, smooth, etc. The illusion of texture can be easily shown in two dimensional art like photography, the key element is using light, yet another topic for another date. 5. Space is an element of art that refers to the area in and around the objects in an imagine. It can be positive such as the man in the photo/painting, or negative which would include things like the sky, an open field which basically leaves a field of air surrounding the subject, the air of course being negative space. 6. Value is an element of art that is most closely related to color, and specifically brightness and darkness. In a later lesson I'll discuss what is referred to high key and low key images. Like all the previous elements, this is important in traditional media art like painting, as well as photography. 7. Line is the seventh element and the one we are going to focus on this evening. Line is what makes the outlines of the other elements of art such as shape and form. Lines can be horizontal, diagonal, vertical, and an absolute endless possibility of lines that move in any way the human mind can think up. Line and specifically the direction of a particular line has been shown to have a psychological effect, that can influence our immediate reaction it, even if we aren't able to detect it right away. Color is another element of art that has been studied and shown to have similar effects. I will be discussing both, in a future blog, for two reasons. The first is, well simply put, it's fascinating which always works for me, but the second and more important reason is that being aware that elements of art such as color, line, form, etc, can illicit a mental response, you can become aware of this as a photographer, and utilize this phenomenon to see the potential for a possible capture that will garner a strong response.

Lines, can be solid, broken, and there is also what is called implied lines which can be really effective as use of a leading line. I'll discuss this in just a second, first let's define what a leading line in photography is, and why, especially in regard to landscape photography, it can be a very useful tool for making a difference in an ok capture and one that draws the viewers eyes through the image. The above photo was captured late Summer at Meramec Spring Park, A leading line, is a line in a photo or painting that invites your eye to follow it. Often this can lead to a subject in the background, but sometimes, like in the photo above, there is no distinct subject. Here I found the scene pleasing, and have used leading lines to do two things. The first, is to draw the viewers eyes from the foreground of the image all the way to the back edge of the photo. That second thing I've done here by using leading lines in my composition is, I've given this two dimensional image the illusion that there is tangable depth to it. In effect, it looks three dimensional. As a photographer always be on the lookout for opportunities such as this. In this case, I have actually framed the capture to include not one, but 4 leading lines (the split rail fence, sidewalk, and both sides of the spring branch), all of which lead to the back of the photo. Be on the lookout for these types of situations, but also be aware that you also need to carefully plan the photo. A haphazardly composed shot could have very easily failed. What I did here that causes this capture to work, is I chose one specific leading line to be the primary focus, in this case the split rail fence, and the other three leading lines act as a support to what I chose as my primary line. When shooting pictures be aware that leading lines are everywhere, and always take a moment to see if there might be a leading line you can use to strengthen your composition. I've had the privilege of shooting the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on a few occasions, and have watched many, many times where people have went out of their way to move because a dead bristle cone pine limb was in the way. In truth, in cases like that, a limb could act as a leading line, or as a framing device which could very easily make for a capture that sets it apart from the typical snapshot. Imagine the fence in the above photo ended middle way through the photo instead of going all the way to the background of the photo. This would be what is known as an implied line. Even though the line would be shortened, the effect would be the same. Our eyes, have a tendency to fill in the missing portion of the line, and the result is the same; the viewer's eyes continue on through the photo, now following a line that isn't there, but that our minds none-the-less fill in sub-consciously. Another thing to be conscious of in regard to use of leading lines, is that despite the fact they have the ability to lead a viewers eye through an entire photo, they can also very easily lead a viewers eyes right out of a photo as well. Below is an example of a poorly composed photo that does just that.

While not the worst case of wrecking a photo by a poor leading line, this photo missed the mark. My aim here had been to get the stone fence in the photo while still showing part of the lake. In this photo, you see the lake, but your eye wants to follow the rock fence which is running diagonally toward the right edge of the frame. In essence it is running the viewers eyes right out of the entire photo. It's very easy to accidentally do this. I immediately knew that I didn't like this and recomposed. In the photo below, you'll see that the eye no longer wants to run out of the frame.

Here I have omitted the lake, but the line following the rock fence no longer leads your eye out of the photo, but effectively leads you through the photo. This is a roughly c-shaped composition, which is yet another area of composition I'll discuss later. If you'll notice the lines of the fence and road disappear, yet again the line is implied where it ends, and our minds fill in the blanks and we can imagine the fence continuing beyond the bend. I had wanted to capture both the beautiful lake and fence the day I took this, but do to the fact this was a busy road, and with no shoulder I wasn't able to safely take the time to find a composition the utilized both the fence as a leading line and the beautiful lake beside it. Though not my finest work, the two above photos do show that even when things aren't working out like you planned, you can always improvise, and use a set back as a means of searching out a photo even if it wasn't the one you had originally planned.

Now we'll move to tonight's second compositional technique, the frame within a frame. The frame within a frame technique is another technique, that has the ability to move the viewers eyes, to the photographer's chosen subject. In the photo above, taken in October of 2008, I saw the boaters trolling slowly. It's very easy to focus on the subject immediately, but you can often find yourself rewarded by taking just a second to

 quickly scan for anything that could make the photo stronger. A photo of the boat itself, with the colorful trees in the background would actually make a decent photo, but by taking a second to notice how the two foreground trees left an opening, makes an otherwise decent photo, even stronger. When shooting outdoors, I make it a habit to look for tree limbs that in essence act as a natural frame for my subject. Besides trees however, frames can be found anywhere, and made out of anything. In the black in white photo of the swan which I took at the train tracks at the St. Louis zoo, I saw the swan swimming across the bridge. In this case, I took a second to frame my shoot, and waited for the swan to swim into the triangular opening. In many cases, it's after I've shot a location a few times that I start looking for a different point of view, or way to capture something that I've shot before. It's not uncommon to get an odd look or two which I did from several people taking photos of Alley Mill below as I kept backing up into the trees shown below. Another simple framing device, is the use of the limb in the cemetery photo, which also helps lead the views eyes back down toward the heavier mist over the grave stones.

 Now to put it all together. Both leading lines and using natural framing to compose a shot can be powerful and it isn't uncommon to find the chance to use both together. The very first photo taken from behind the spring at Meramec Spring Park, you can two horseshoe shaped leading lines that lead toward the background. The way the trees in the middle ground grow over curved in an almost arch shaped form, further focuses the eye to continue on down the stream. The photo below also uses framing and leading lines together, though this time more pronounced. This photo was captured near sunrise at Bull Shoals Dam in Arkansas. The pavilion acted as a giant window, while the dam leads your eye into the photo. And the mist adds a wonderful feel. That will be saved for a blog on how weather conditions can effect a photo.

So far we've covered the rule of thirds, leading lines, and using improvisational framing by being observant. These aren't difficult concepts, yet many people don't even take a moment to think about actually composing a shot. After several trips to the National Parks of the South West, and countless trips through Missouri's parks, I see more people that jump out of their cars at an over look, take one photo straight ahead, one to the right, and one to the left, and it's as though in a matter of seconds they feel they've gotten what they came for. You're missing something special if a couple shots at the edge of the Grand Canyon, a shot or two from the valley floor of Zion, a click out the car window of balanced rock or skyline arch counts as the been there done there experience. I don't know if that many other photographers do this, but I will often put the camera down for a bit, sit on a quiet rock and just take in the experience. As much as anyone, I'm always in search of the ever elusive perfect picture, but also know that if my eye is to the viewfinder none stop, that I too could be missing out on just the joy of experiencing something beautiful.Thanks for reading and happy shooting.
© Tommy Burgess