Lines to live by: Pointing using lines, or the occasional anchor.

 

"The van is easy to find.  There's an arrow on my front lawn pointing to it."

OK, it's not an arrow, it's an anchor.  I photographed this in Nelson's Dockyard in Antigua.  But you get the idea that you can use lines to direct your attention to a subject or feature in an image.  The interesting thing here is that it's hard to "unsee" the anchor as being an arrow.  Would it look the same if the van was parked somewhere else?

Some photos I have taken where lines play a large part in their impact.

You can see the above images all have lines that deal with pointing to some degree.  You can use lines to frame, draw your eye, or enhance some aspect of a photo.  The images above all deal with pointing towards a subject.  

Lines can be natural or artificial in nature.  They can come as single entities or multiple ones.  They can be of the same makeup or of many different kinds.  What they should have in common is the ability to strengthen the drawing power of the image.  

When shooting, I am often sizing up the environment around the subject and look for any aspects that will improve the visual appeal of the image.  It often means altering the focal length of the lens I am using and changing my position.  This is one of the reasons I encourage people to move around when framing a shot.  Explore the scene, move around it, and pay attention to any elements that will make a better photo.  In the end, you will find that you will make better pictures.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com