Photography is more than combining cameras, lenses, and film; it is about using those tools in combination with the elements of art and principles of design to create visual art. Understanding the elements and the principles will make your photography more than just snapshots.
Elements of Art: Line, Shape and Form, Value, Color, Space, Texture Principles of Design: Balance, Unity, Variety, Movement and Rhythm, Emphasis, Proportion, Pattern
The elements of art are the visual components in an image. They are real things that can be seen and photographed. Line is one of the most fundamental art elements. A line is a point moving in space, it starts in one place and ends somewhere else. It can be real- a yellow line on a road, or implied- geese flying in a ‘V’. Lines can serve as pathways through your pictures or as dividers and boundaries within your composition to separate different areas of your photographs.
This image is all about the lines created by the wire and how they relate to each other and the edges of the frame. What kinds of shapes are created by the lines?
Even though the mirrors in this image do not form an unbroken line, the way they are arranged implies one. Are there any real lines in the image that reinforce this feeling?
A shapeis created when a line meets itself. A shape can be either geometric or organic. Circles, ovals, triangles, rectangles and squares are example of geometric shapes. Organic shapes are more natural. Flowing curves and random outlines are common features of organic shapes. Picture a leaf, a puddle, the silhouette of a face, and a wet footprint on concrete. These are all organic shapes. Formis similar to shape, but while shape is flat and two-dimensional, form has volume and is three-dimensional.
The blue background of the water helps to define the organic shape of the seal. The lighting gives the shape of the seal its form. How does line function in this image?
When you talk about colorin photography, you are always talking about light. There are three characteristics that apply to all colors: hue, saturation, and value.
The warm oranges of the sunset dominate this scene. How could you characterize or describe the composition of this image?
Blue, the main color in this image, creates a certain kind of mood. What mood does this image convey to the viewer?
The bright red of the berries contrasts strongly with deep green in this image. How would the image change with a bright yellow background?
Value refers to the quality of light and dark, both in terms of color and shades of gray, in a composition. Photographers use a full range of values to achieve the illusion of three-dimensionality. This is one characteristic of the very best prints.
The mostly white or light values contain bluish-gray tint, while the darker values are slightly reddish. How does this affect the image?
Spaceis the two-dimensional arrangement of objects in a photograph and also refers to the three-dimensional illusion of depth in the image. This is the near/far relationship of objects in the photograph. Space can be positive or negative. Positive space is the subject and negative space is the background. The contrast of light and dark is one way to use positive and negative space.
Plain black backgrounds can look flat and two-dimensional, but this image of lanterns looks very three-dimensional. How did the photographer do this? What is the positive and negative space in this image?
Textureappeals to the sense of touch. In a photograph, a sense of texture makes our eyes believe that a rusted metal surface feels rough to the touch, or that a polished steel surface is smooth and glass-like. Texture makes a photograph look real and suggests it is three dimensional, rather than the two-dimensional object that it actually is.
Patternis achieved by the repetition of any of the elements of art. Repeating a line or a shape will create pattern, the key is repetition
The lines and shapes of the rusted grate become an overall pattern for the background. What helps the leaves to blend in against the background?
Balance is the appearance of visual weight within a composition. If one object is located on one side of the image, it is balanced on the other side by another object that is equal in size, value or color. Symmetrical balance is best described as a mirror-image composition. Asymmetricalbalance still looks balanced, but objects are not centered in the frame. Radialbalance is a circular style of composition that occurs when objects radiate from a central point in an image, like the spokes of a wheel.
Symmetrical balance: If you were to draw a line down the middle of this model, both sides would be equally balanced and centered in the frame.
Asymmetrical balance: The butterfly and flowers are balanced, but not centered in the frame.
Radial Balance: Objects radiating from a central point in the image.
Unityresults when all the individual parts of your photograph come together and support each other to make one unified image. Varietyis the opposite. It is all the diverse art elements and principles found in a picture, such as light and dark, big and small, smooth and rough.
The red wall and door create unity. If this wall were unpainted, how would the image change?
In a photograph, movementis real or implied motion. Movementcan also refer to how a viewer’s eye travels through a picture.
The camera was moved, or panned, blurring the background. A slow shutter speed blurred the subjects. How would a fast shutter speed change this image?
The line of the sand dune leads your eye through the image, while the lines of waves on the dunes’ surface create visual rhythm. Where does your eye go first in this image?
One of the most important decisions in making a photograph is to decide what your image is about, and what its emphasiswill be. To increase the emphasison an object, you get closer and make it bigger, or make it stand out with the use of contrasting values.
Jerry Ueslmann emphasized the hands in this image by getting close and making them large. What else did he do to emphasize them?
Proportionis the relationship between the sizes of objects or components in an image. Not only does a proportional difference help to indicate an object’s size, it also helps to indicate distance and location.
This photograph of the Lincoln Monument is an example of proportion. What has the photographer done to show proportion? What are a few other things the photographer could have done?
In Class Activity
-Pinterest Accounts: Elements of Photography Scavenger Hunt If you do not already have a Pinterest account, create one. You will be creating a Pinterest Board titled 'Elements of Photography'. You will be pinning 15 different photographic examples of the elements and principles of art. The description of each pin will include the element or principle as well as a quick description. Choose images that INSPIRE you