As you already know I firmly believe that rules are nothing more than guidelines and there’re times when you should break them, however they do help the new photographer get started taking great pictures. I started this series out with the Rule of Thirds and this rule is one of the rules we will want to apply when composing landscape shots. I’m not going to repeat that rule here. If you missed the first article in this series, you should go back and read it now before reading this one. Here’s the link http://factoidz.com/rules-are-made-to-be-broken-rule-number-1-the-rule-of-thirds/.
Today I want to discuss how to use diagonal lines to improve the quality of your landscape photographs. Using diagonal lines is a very effective way to draw the viewers eyes to the main subject of the photographs. The lines don’t have to be real lines; they can be a fence, a river, a line of trees, a hedge, a path, a road, etc. anything that draws the viewer’s eye to the main focus of the picture.
Using diagonal lines in a picture has the tendency to make them more dynamic by adding a feeling of action, a feeling of motion even when no motion is present. Many studies have been conducted on how people view paintings and photographs and most of them point to the fact that most people let their eyes travel from the lower left-hand corner to the upper right hand corner. The best direction for a diagonal line used in composition is from lower left to upper right. The diagonal line must appear to belong naturally in that position. Don’t split the picture by having a line run from the extreme lower left corner to the extreme upper right corner unless that how it appears naturally.
Converging lines, two or more lines coming from different points and converging can be even more effective than diagonal lines in a photograph. Perhaps the classic example of converging lines used in landscape photography are railroad tracks For a time, when I was living in the Western United States and was spending a great deal of my leisure time in the High Desert, I probably overdid it with the railroad tracks but none of those shots were boring or repetitive.
Use different focal length lenses and different angles when using converging lines in a photograph. Different focal length lenses totally change the impact that converging lines have on a photograph. I could writes pages on how focal length effects converging lines but the best way to learn their effects is to go out and experiment with them.
As a rule, when using converging lines to compose a shot, the most effective place to place the main subject is at the point of convergence. All lines then directs the viewer’s eyes to the picture’s subject.
