Pay attention to lines. Make them go in the right direction.

Tuesday 13 August 2024, 20:10 by Nando Harmsen | 2,514 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

I often see photos of jetties passing by. They run exactly vertically into the photo. I then wonder, is that the right way? Or could it be done differently? You have the freedom to influence the direction of lines in a photo.

A jetty running into the water is a very common photo. The jetty often appears as a vertical line in the photo. A photo has no depth, after all. Something running from front to back then appears as a vertical line.

A frequently photographed view of a jetty. There is nothing wrong with it.
Sometimes a vertical line does not work. For example, in a forest where a fallen tree is being photographed. It is easy to photograph it in the same way as that jetty, but is that really the right way?

A fallen tree as a vertical line does not work, in my opinion. It needs to be different.
A vertical line divides the photo in two. It is not pleasant to look at. This can easily be solved by turning it into a diagonal line. Move to the left or right, depending on your preference.

Choosing a position on the left creates an outgoing diagonal.

Choosing a position on the right creates an incoming diagonal.
This diagonally positioned tree is more pleasant to look at. Your eye is guided through the photo in a very natural way. Choose what you like best, or what works best.

Take a good look at the details on and around the fallen tree, too. Sometimes there are elements that can be used as foreground. This gives the photo more content and depth, both figuratively and literally.

An extra image element in the foreground can work wonders. Just make sure the diagonal remains visible.
So always pay attention to how you position lines in your image. It does not matter whether it is a tree, a jetty, a road, or anything else. Choose the right viewpoint for the strongest possible composition.

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About the author

Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.

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2 comments

Donald Willemsen wrote on Wednesday 14 August 2024 at 10:20 | reply
Nando, I think it's a great article you've written. Content-wise, I agree with you. Still, I want to mention something that bothers me a little. It's about the photo with the pier. In the sky you can also see lines, but they don't run parallel to the pier in the sense that those lines in the sky don't start from the point where the pier leads your eyes. So, intuitively, that bothers me a bit. Don't see this as criticism, but rather as how I see the photo. Of course, you have no influence over how the clouds are. You can't control them. If you hadn't used a long shutter speed, the photo would radiate restlessness.
The photos of the forest in this article appeal to me more intuitively. With the pier, I had the feeling of: something isn't right here. I didn't have that feeling with the photos of the forest.
I hope you can appreciate knowing how others look at/read a photo.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Wednesday 14 August 2024 at 10:24 | reply
Good point, regarding that scaffolding.
Although you have no influence on the vanishing point of the clouds, you do have influence on the way the scaffolding appears in the image.
By using the technique described with the scaffolding, you can get the scaffolding to almost line up with the vanishing point of the clouds. A matter of stepping to the right and turning the camera to the left.
Translated from Dutch.

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