Form and Volume: elements of visual design, part 3

This month's Boost Your Photography: 52 Weeks Challenge is focusing in on the basic elements of composition: line, shape, form or volume, texture, and color. This week your challenge is to pay attention to form and volume. See how thinking about form can help you grow in your photography. (Click here to read part 1, The Line or part 2, Shape.)

Form and Volume

Each week in our study of visual design we have added a dimension: starting with one (the line) and then two (shape). This week we will add the third dimension (known as form or volume). Yet the photograph itself is still a two-dimensional representation. The keys to emphasizing form and volume in photography is through deliberate use of light and perspective.

The direction of your light is important in determining the appearance of form and volume. The ideal lighting for emphasizing the form and volume of your subject is directional side lighting. When light is coming from a single direction off to the side of your camera and subject, the interplay between light and shadow allows the viewer to better understand all three dimensions.

For the self-portrait above, I used a single desk light for illumination. To limit the light from spreading out and illuminating any of the background, I made my own "snoot" by wrapping a cone of black paper around the light. The light was positioned perpendicular to the camera direction and off to my left. This creates the strong shadows across the hand and face that draw your eye to the three-dimensional form of the face.

Form and Volume: try it

The best way to really see and understand the connection between light and form is to experiment for yourself. Choose a simple subject with a noticeably three-dimensional form (for the example below, I used a lamp base). Find a clear and uncluttered spot to shoot, so you can focus on your subject. (You can use a tri-fold board for a simple background, if you wish.) Shoot in a dark room or at night so that you can control the light. To make it easier on yourself, consider shooting with a tripod and remote, so that you can leave your camera and focus set.

Grab a small light source, like a narrow-beam flashlight or a desk lamp. Wrap some black paper as around your light source so that you have a narrow beam of light. Turn off any other lights in the room. Stand behind your camera, shine the light on your subject, and take a picture (front-lighting). Then move the light around to one side and take a picture (side-lighting). Finally, move the light around so that it is behind your subject and take a picture (back-lighting).

Try also moving the light up and down in those different positions. How does your subject change? How do the changes in the shadows and light direction affect how your eye sees the form and volume of your subject?

If you are having trouble seeing and shooting while moving the light yourself, consider watching this video demonstration. His focus is on learning to see and understand light, but you can also simply watch the egg as the light moves around it and think about how your perception of the egg's form and volume changes.

How Will You Use Form and Volume?

Consider sharing your experiment shots with form and volume this week. Or, put your learning into practice and seek out a situation where your photograph emphasizes the form and volume of your subject. Share a link or a photograph in the comments below, or consider joining the BYP 52 Weeks Google+ Community to share your weekly photograph and see what others are capturing.

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Boost Your Photography: Learn Your DSLR is available from Amazon. Get the most out of your camera with practical advice about the technical and creative aspects of DSLR photography that will have you taking beautiful pictures right away.

Shape: elements of visual design, part 2

This month's Boost Your Photography: 52 Weeks Challenge is focusing in on the basic elements of composition: line, shape, form or volume, texture, and color. This week your challenge is to pay attention to shape. See how thinking about shapes can help you grow in your photography. (Click here to read part 1, The Line.)

Shape

Photography, by its very nature, takes a three-dimensional world and renders it in two dimensions. A study of shape moves us from the one-dimensional focus of the line and the curve to the two-dimensional focus of the shape of an object or subject. With shape, think outline, think silhouette. (A further study of light and shadow will add the third dimension: form or volume, which we will study next week.)

There are three basics shapes in visual design: the circle, the square, and the triangle. The trick to seeing and working with shapes in your photography relies on your ability to concentrate on the shape of your subject, as divorced from the reality of what your subject is. Let us take a look at each of these three basic shapes and how to recognize and use them in your photography.


The Circle

A true circle is a rare shape, one that is found far more often in constructed, man-made environments than in natural ones. A circle symbolizes balance, symmetry. A mathematical circle is perfectly round and flawlessly even. Many natural objects that we think of as circles are not. Children may draw apples, pumpkins, and the moon as circles but in reality these objects are more-often imitations of true circles.

Finding and photographing circles often takes on a level of abstraction. Only the right angle, the right position, or the right perspective will allow your viewer to register "circle" when looking at a certain subject. Spend some time with your subject, moving around, looking high, and looking low, and see how the shape or shapes you see changes as you move. Only when you find the shape that you want, should you take the photograph.

The Square

The square is another shape that is common in the constructed world. Most buildings and structures contain squares or rectangles. Squares can convey a feeling of balance and symmetry, like circles, but they are anchored to their straight sides. Squares are blocky and hold more visual weight as well. Differing sizes of squares in a photograph can give a sense of distance or perspective.

The Triangle

The triangle as a shape is the least pleasing of the three. Triangles are pointy and often unbalanced, signaling danger or fear. Mountains can often be glossed as triangles. You can also use perspective and vanishing points to create triangles in your image. Roads leading off into the distance or buildings looked at from below, can seem to converge into triangular shapes.

How Will You Use Shape?

Practice trying to see your composition as shapes and not as subjects. Do not see pebbles on the beach; see circles. Do not see buildings; see squares and rectangles. Do not see mountains; see triangles. Abstract yourself from the definitions of what you are photographing and try to see the underlying shape or shapes.

Then, share what you have discovered! You can share a link or a photograph in the comments below, or consider joining the BYP 52 Weeks Google+ Community to share your weekly photograph and see what others are capturing.

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Boost Your Photography: Learn Your DSLR is available from Amazon. Get the most out of your camera with practical advice about the technical and creative aspects of DSLR photography that will have you taking beautiful pictures right away.

The Line: elements of visual design, part 1

This month's Boost Your Photography: 52 Weeks Challenge is focusing in on the basic elements of composition: line, shape, form or volume, texture, and color. This week your challenge is to pay attention to the line or lines in your world, your compositions, and your photographs. See how thinking about lines can help you grow in your photography.

The Line

Mathematically-speaking, a line is a straight path between two points, but photographically-speaking, we are going to bend that definition a bit to also include curves. Lines appear in many different ways and circumstances in photography, both obvious and more obscure. Let's begin by thinking about different types of lines: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and curves.


Horizontal Lines

Horizontal lines are quite common in the world and in photography, and one of the most common is the horizon itself. Depending on your location, the horizon may not appear as a simple horizontal line, as it is often broken up or hidden from view by trees, buildings, or other things. Even so, you need to take your horizon line into consideration when shooting (or be willing to fix it later during post-processing).

In most circumstances, you want to be sure to keep your horizon line level. Level horizontal lines provide a feeling of stability and balance. Our eyes can detect even a few degrees of slant in a horizon, and this kind of photograph can give the viewer a sense of unease or feeling off-balance. If you deliberately want to use a tilted horizon in a photograph, a more dramatic tilt often works better than a subtle one.

Buildings and other structures are another source of horizontal lines in photographs. If you are shooting a building head-on, for example, you would expect the horizontal lines to remain straight and horizontal in your final image. If you are shooting a building from an oblique angle, then you will start the notice the impact of perspective and the possibility of leading lines or a clear vanishing point in your image. You can read more about Leading Lines here.

Vertical Lines

Vertical lines can convey growth, and they are often used to show power or prominence or a sense of scale and height. Vertical lines are often found naturally in trees or other tall plants or can be inferred in situations like the moon's light trail, below.

It can be very difficult to keep vertical lines vertical in your photographs. Perspective can lead to the appearance of converging verticals, and this is especially a problem if you are down low, looking up at your subject or up high, looking down. If you want to keep your vertical lines looking vertical, you need to shoot your subject head-on and from a farther distance away. Backing up and using a longer focal length on your lens will help keep your verticals looking straight. Read more about converging verticals in the article on Photographing Architecture: watch your lines.

Diagonal Lines

Diagonal lines are dynamic. They can convey a feeling of energy and movement. Diagonal lines are often used the lead the eye through the image.

In this photograph, the diagonal placement of the path leads the viewer's eye through the image, directly to the location of the walking person. The person's movement is mimicked by this movement of the eye.

Curves and S-Curves

Curves are technically not lines, but they fit this challenge due to their 2-dimensional nature. Curves are often found in nature and are pleasing to the eye. The s-curve is a particular type of curve, commonly found in meandering rivers or paths. Curves also lead the eye through an image, like diagonal lines, but their curved shape can convey more calm.

How Will You Use the Line?

As a fellow photography instructor once summarized, "You already knew all of this. Now try to think of it consciously before you hit that little black button."

Think about your line(s) this week. Are you seeking out straight horizontal lines? Do you want to use a vertical line or lines to send a message? How could you use a diagonal line to send a message? What could you do with a gentle curve? Share a link or a photograph in the comments below, or consider joining the BYP 52 Weeks Google+ Community to share your weekly photograph and see what others are capturing.

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Boost Your Photography: Learn Your DSLR is available from Amazon. Get the most out of your camera with practical advice about the technical and creative aspects of DSLR photography that will have you taking beautiful pictures right away.