Composing with Lines

Photographer: Al Jurina

In a previous post, we talked about using the rule of thirds to compose and frame your subjects to make a better photo.

In this post, I want to bring up another compositional tool that you can use: Lines. Sometimes we can use lines to lead our viewer into the frame, or perhaps use them to draw our eyes across the photo towards something of interest. What makes this great, is that nature, as well as every day things, have lines in abundance. They don't have to be straight lines either. In fact, if you can, try to find lines that make an S-curve. Those sorts of lines, which you could find easily in nature, can produce more interest. The idea of this post is not to take photos of lines, but to use them in your actual photo.

The next time that you are out shooting, try to remember the use of lines. The more that you focus on noticing them, the better your compositions will be. 

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