Exercise - Implied Lines.

The object in the exercise was to look at the implied lines within an image, that is, how ones' eye travels around the image and what you can do to influence that. For this exercise I first looked at my recent pictures looking for implied lines, then, as part of my recent photographic marathon while on holiday, looked at some specific possibilities.  I find it easier to see the lines 'after the fact' than to deliberately produce them whilst shooting.  This is clearly an area of composition I need to think about actively.

Example 1.

Ruined Gateway at Torryburn.

Here there is a clear implied line along the path leading into the old gate. The mind is lead into wondering what is inside.

Example 2.

Under the Abbey

Here the lines between the stones act as implied lines and send the eye back in  the image toward the line of light coming from the doorway.

Example 3.

Deserted Coastal Defence - Charles Point

Here there are two implied lines, the first looking down the stair toward the person beyond the doorway, the second following the persons gaze to the opening on the left.

The following are from the second set of images made while considering implied lines.

Example 1.

Street Cooking

Here there is a clear eye-line from the cook to the cup of squid that is about to be dropped into the wok.

Example 2.

Hot Noodles for Sale!

Here the two bright red ladles point directly at the centre of the dish of noodles on the market stall.

Learning Points:

1. Lines in a picture can be very obvious - but the more subtle implied lines are often more effective.
2. Most of the above pictures show an implied line from right to left, western people usually read a picture from left to right (like the lines on a page), so lines that lead in the opposite direction set up a tension in the picture and may make it more interesting.
3. Lines often lead the eye outside the image - therefore increase imagination of 'what is/might be'.

Exercise - Diagonal

Diagonals help to give a sense of movement:

 A Simon Snorkel putting out the fire - points directly at the small man in red on the roof.

Looking along a fence  - what is at the end?

A pathway across the field, for those with good vision there is a steeple at the very end. The diagonals in the field are echoed by the patterns in the clouds.

An old WWII coastal defence building - now ruined. Is there something hidden behind it. The diagonal roof leads the eye to the end.

  

and real movement here - taken from a bridge - with a old Mallard Class steam train underneath.

  




Diagonals clearly lead the eye into the image, if there is a dark (or indistinct) area at the end it makes you wonder what is happening, and consider the possibility of exploring it. The mind (and body) want to follow where the eye goes.

Exercise - Horizontal and vertical lines

Object - looking for lines and edges:

 Lines of trees, lit from the side and echoed by the line of the wall to the right.

 Leaves growing upward, taken from low down and looking into the centre of the plant.

 A column in the abbey, this is a relative close up, to show the pattern and the edges.

 A narrow, dark passage with the sun from behind, lines in the height of the wall, emphasised by the narrow walkway.

 Layers of plants in the field, lines produced by alternating light of the flowers and dark of the stems.

 Pipes, man made and stacked, sun behind the camera.

 Lines of metal and of text (on the War Memorial), lit from above on a brilliantly sunny day.

Lines in the bark of tree, in spite of the height of the tree the first thing noticed when walking by are the horizontal lines.

When I looked though my recent images I found that many of them were strongly influenced by lines , either horizontal or vertical, or both. It became difficult to pick out a representative sample, I have many trees, all very vertical, but I found the one shown second here, with the horizontal lines in the trunk, interesting because of the tension caused by the expectation of height in a tree set against the vertical lines seen. The flowers (rape seed) are also interesting because although they are intrinsically vertical, the light and shade and the colours give a very definite implied horizontal pattern.