Lines

Lines in your photographs play an important role. You should think of them as tracks for the viewers' eyes. These tracks will route your viewer in and out of your photograph. They can draw your viewer's attention right to your subject. Or, if you haven't taken care when composing your image, they can draw a viewer's attention right out of your photograph.

You can find lines in any scene. It's how you use them that is important. The photo above was shot with a 24mm wide angle lens, which stretched out the perspective and enhanced the lines. The viewer's eye is pulled directly to the center of the image where the woman is walking. It's an obvious example, but you can find lines present in just about any scene.

Lines That Aren't Lines

Don't assume that a line has to be a straight line, or a even a line at all. Anything can be a line for your viewer's eye to follow. In the photograph below, a series of sticks in a lake (lines themselves) form a line pointing up to the right. In this simple composition, your eye is pulled up from the bottom left, following the sticks. Reaching the top, your eye moves left along the foggy mountains and back down to the starting point, where it all begins again. This circular track effect makes for visually compelling photographs, drawing in the viewer's attention and holding it. This photo is very simple, but the lines and tones work to keep you looking.

That kind of construction can be used with just about any photographic subject matter. You can take the composition process that created this image and apply it to any number of situations. Simply look for lines and tracks among the shapes in your composition and use them to lead into your subject.

Shapes

Shapes are another element to consider in your compositions. If you remember to break down your image to its visual skeleton, as I've talked about before, you want to see your lines and shapes working together. You're looking for a simple design and layout of these elements. Keep it simple and your photographs will have a striking look.

Shapes are present everywhere. We take them for granted. A fun photographic exercise is to pick a shape (square, triangle, circle) and go out hunting for them. (The photographs above were from a quick walk around downtown Austin, Texas.) After you've gone out specifically looking for shapes, you'll realize how little attention you've been paying them.