Art of Photography: Project 28

This project covered 'Patterns' and 'Rhythms'. In a photograph a pattern can be said to be a repeating theme or subject where the content is quite static. Where as a rhythm is similar to a pattern but may include curves, diagonals, or something which makes the elements of the photograph more dynamic and causes the viewer to follow the 'rhythm', and can be imagined to be similar to a musical rhythm.

I found it hard to find good examples of this due to time constraints, but I did understand the project and what it was trying to convey.


A pattern repeats throughout the frame of the photograph but is quite static.


A rhythm has a pattern or shape which is dynamic and causes the viewer to follow the rhythm. This isn't a great example but I felt the slight wave to the wooden logs helped to convey movement and a 'rhythm'.

Art of Photography: Project 27

After rectangles and triangles, this project focused on circles. I learnt that circle can be harder to find, and when used in photography they are the tightest and most compact and enclosing of all the shapes, imposing more structure on the image than triangles or rectangles. An example was provided and it was clear to see that the circular plate in the example drew the viewers eye towards it and away from any surrounding detail.

For the project I produced four pictures showing real and implied circles.


I found a circular shape created by surrounding foliage. The shape together with the focus and depth of field draws the eye to the lake in the background.


Although I didn't manage to get a sharp image of this bumblebee, it still provided an example of an implied circle.


An example of a real circle.


This final image falls somewhere between real and implied circles, but provides a good example of how circles draw the eye, with the smaller circles in the centre of the flower also drawing attention.

Art of Photography: Project 26

This project focused on triangles. Triangles occur much more frequently than rectangles and are not as restricting. During the project I learnt that triangles are more dynamic than rectangles as they are usually made up from diagonals, which similar to diagonal lines, have associations with movement.

Of particular interest to me was reading how triangles can be formed from just two sides, or sometimes even one, with the edge of the frame making up the other sides. In this way impressions of triangles can be formed easily and used effectively in composition and the potential is there for a lot of creativity. This also ensures triangles appear quite frequently.

Another reason triangles appear a lot is due to perspective. As I have already learnt linear perspective causes many lines in photographs to converge on a point in the distance, which naturally causes triangles. Examples of this are a road heading into the distance, looking up at tall buildings or trees, and looking down from above at converging lines. With this knowledge it is easy to enhance effects and perspectives and create triangles and interesting compositions.

Triangles can also be implied as with other shapes and lines, and any three points in any position (as long as they are not touching) will form a triangle. This is another reason that triangles are easy to find in photography. I enjoyed the examples of this, using groups of people to form triangular shapes, and I can begin to see the creative potential of triangles.

The project required six photographs to show examples of triangles.


The first photograph is of a real triangle.


The second photograph is a triangle formed using perspective and converging lines at the top of the frame.


The third photograph is an inverted triangle formed using converging lines and perspective.


Here a triangle is formed using a still-life arrangement of 5 objects (as points).


Another still life but forming an inverted triangle.


The final task was to form an implied triangle using a group image of three people. I only had two and not much time or space to do it, but I tried to create a silhouette of a triangular shape.

Art of Photography: Project 25

Here I learnt about the first of three basic shapes, rectangles.

Most opportunities to photograph rectangles come from man made things as they are made with straight sides and right angles. They have to be shot from straight on to maintain shape, as any deviation in the viewpoint will distort the rectangle. Also, because the frame of the photograph is itself rectangle, it is very easy for the eye to compare shape and see distorted or uneven rectangles, so even a small change in angle from 'straight on' becomes very obvious.

Whilst doing this project I found this fact to be quite limiting as it limits what you are able to do with a subject and also makes for quite a static image. However, rectangles can also be used as frames within a frame, and as they match the shape of the photographic frame they are also good at dividing the frame into sections.

Shapes in a photograph can create associated feelings or views, in the same way as lines. Rectangles are associated with being formal, enclosing, precise and static.







For all three of my photographs I decided to take them handheld to judge how hard it is to line up the rectangle to keep its shape in the frame. I found that I had to have quite a few attempts and as you can see they are still not perfectly straight. Even when using a tripod you would have to be very precise and careful to line up a rectangle perfectly, and although this is generally not needed or desired anyway, it does show just how much a rectangle is affected with even very small changes to viewpoint.

Art of Photography: Project 24

Project 24 still focused on design elements, but moved from lines to shapes. Here I learnt the basics of 'shape' and that a shape can be an outline or an enclosure depending on the subject, and that again as with lines, a shape is mostly defined by contrast, either of light or of colours.

I also learnt that shapes can be regular or irregular, and that regular shapes such as triangles, rectangles etc, are more easily recognized and therefore play a larger part in composition than irregular shapes.

I enjoyed learning that even when a shape is not clearly defined (it may be broken or uneven), as with lines the brain fills in the gaps to define the shape. I also enjoyed the examples of contrast playing a large part in forming shapes. A light subject such as a white building can have its shape defined strongly by placing it on a dark background. In the example a dark blue sky was used for the background, utilizing a circular polarizer to further darken the sky, which made the building and its shape clearly stand out. The other opposite example used a light background to define the shape of a silhouette, another effective technique which also removes detail from the silhouetted subject, further emphasizing just its shape.

Art of Photography: Project 23

After horizontal, vertical, diagonal lines and curves, this project focused on implied lines. Implied lines are those which are not complete or obvious but which the brain judges and resolves to make into lines. Imaginary lines.

As with the other projects on this subject, I enjoyed learning about this and hope to be able to retain the knowledge and put it into use. I particularly like implied lines as they can be used to direct a viewers gaze and attention to parts of an image, but in subtle and hidden ways.

For this project I had to find and photograph two examples of this in use.


This picture uses a line extension, where only part of a line is used but the viewers eye follows the direction of the line to a point of interest.


This image uses an eye-line, where the viewer follows the direction of someones gaze in the photograph.

Art of Photography: Project 22

After learning about points, horizontal and vertical lines, and diagonals, this project focused on curves. I learnt that curves have a sense of movement and direction similar to diagonals, and that they can convey smoothness and elegance.

As before it was much easier to find curves in man made objects, but I tried to avoid simple things and be a bit more creative. I ended up with two man made and two natural subjects.









I find it easy to see and understand the sense of movement provided by curves. In the image of the bridge the eye follows the curve over the bridge, and in the image of the truck there is a left to right or right to left movement following the structure of the truck.

For the first natural image I found an unusual tree which had curves going all the way up the trunk as if it had continuously twisted as it had grown. I found it hard to capture and provide as good an example of this as I would have liked, but the curves still convey the 'twisting' motion of the tree.

For the final image I tried hard to find something other than flowers which would have been an easy choice for curves. In the end I found this plant and was intrigued by the circular shape of the thorns, which were perfectly positioned and distanced to form a circle and also a star shape. I tried hard to capture it and show how perfect the shape was, choosing a wide aperture and focusing on the thorns to distinguish them from the rest of the plant, but in the end it probably didn't show curves as well as the other images.