Leading the eye

A photograph is looked at in an order, whether or not you chose one. Composition is largely about choosing it.

Lines

The eye follows lines. A road, a fence, a shadow’s edge, a row of windows — all of them pull attention along their length.

A leading lines arriving at the subject makes a photograph feel deliberate. A strong line leaving the frame takes the viewer’s attention out with it.

Diagonals carry more energy than horizontals, which is part of why photographing a scene from slightly off-square so often improves it.

Frames within the frame

Something in the foreground enclosing the subject — an archway, a window, overhanging branches, a gap between two people — does two things. It isolates the subject, and it adds a sense of depth by establishing something nearer than them.

It need not be a literal frame. Anything that surrounds works.

Layers

A photograph is flat. Depth has to be implied, and the most reliable way is to give the eye something at more than one distance: foreground, subject, background.

This is why standing back and including something near the camera so often rescues a landscape that looked better in life than in the photograph.

Where it goes wrong

• A strong line pointing at nothing.
• A frame so dark it becomes a hole rather than a border.
• Foreground included for its own sake, cluttering rather than layering.

The test is always the same: does this give the eye somewhere to go, or something to trip over?

Key takeaways

• The eye follows lines; make sure they arrive at the subject rather than leaving the frame.
• Foreground elements that enclose the subject add isolation and depth at once.
• Depth is implied by arranging things at different distances.
• Every device should give the eye a route, not an obstacle.