Photography is an art, and like all art forms, seven basic elements make up our images. Although, I challenge that number, I think there are eight. Understanding these factors helps us to take our creativity to the next level.
The first of these elements is the line. Most of our photos include lines. We use them to guide our eyes around the image, what we call paths. They are often confused with leading lines that lead us to a subject in the frame.
Lines can also act as a block, preventing the viewer’s eye from moving beyond a certain point. Horizontal lines on the frame can do the trick, and that’s generally considered a bad thing. However, when used purposefully, it can distract the viewer from an object that is out of line, thus adding an element of surprise to the photo. Such paintings are not comfortable to look at. Personally, though, I like pictures that are challenging and require a bit of thought to understand.
Shape formed by the contour of a closed two-dimensional space created by one or more lines. We probably learned the basics – circles, triangles, squares – when we were toddlers. Also, my favorite name for a shape is a chili pepper, which has a thousand edges. It’s not the named shape with the most edges; myriagon has ten thousand edges, and megagon is a million. However, most of us will probably only recognize up to one octagon without having to count the edges.
Shapes can give meaning to an image. For example, the circle can be used to represent equality and unity, as well as the ideas of wholeness and infinity. On the other hand, triangles are sometimes used to represent strength. That is why triangles are used a lot in construction.
In photography, we can use shapes as symbols, as artists and designers have done throughout the ages. However, the meanings of shapes can be influenced by cultural differences. Both the five- and six-pointed stars will have very different meanings in different cultures, depending on one’s nationality, ethnic background, and political or religious beliefs. Go back in time to the 1920s and have a shape that has been used for millennia by Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains. In Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, that shape is synonymous with happiness. It was then irretrievably appropriated by the most evil regime in human history. Of course, it’s the swastika.
Form refers to a three-dimensional shape. To describe the look inside a photograph, which has two dimensions, we depend a lot on the nature of the light and its ability to both shine and cast. We therefore consider light on a gray, overcast day to be flat light, as everything in the image appears to have no depth due to that uniform light. Under flat light, the form reverts to shape and thus the separation of subjects may be lost.
In the photos above, it can be seen that even a little diffused light adds form to the articles in the second photo. The first shot was taken in uniform lighting and the whole shot looks flatter. Compare that to the first photo at the top of this article. There, the light is even stronger and has a lower beam angle. Therefore, the posts to the left of the frame show more form.
The brightness and darkness of subjects are very important in the mind of most photographers. This factor in art is called value, but in photography we often call it brightness. We give the luminance numbers, with black at 0 and white at 255. Middle gray is 127. Contrast occurs when areas of an image have different brightness.
You’ll see the brightness applied to the RGB letters, representing the colors red, green, and blue.
So color is the next element. By mixing red, green and blue colors together in different proportions and with all available luminances, we get a wide range or gamut of colors. 256 (red) x 256 (green) x 256 (blue) = 16,777,216 possible combinations or colors. We did just to name more than 9,000 of themtoo much for me to remember, so using exact numbers is essential.
Colors can also vary in intensity or saturation. As a result, HSL adjustments (hue, saturation, and brightness) are available as we develop and edit the photo.
Like shapes, colors can also have symbolic meanings, and sometimes those meanings can contradict each other.
Red can be the color of both love and war. Red lips and red eyes evoke very different feelings. A date with a red letter is very different from the one you get in red for an outstanding bill. We may be green out of envy, but we want businesses with strong green credentials. Then the emotions evoked by the blue sea and the sky are not what we associate with blues music.
Let’s boldly go to the space element. That is divided into two categories: positive and negative.
Photographers talk a lot about negative space, i.e. the space around and between the subject. Sometimes, negative space forms a more interesting shape than the subject itself. Therefore, it can be used to challenge understanding of a photograph and, like the intercepts I mentioned earlier, can be used to delay the realization of the photo’s purpose. . It can also be used to combine two different ideas in a photo.
Positive space is the opposite of negative space and is where the area of interest is in the image.
Together, negative and positive space are often positioned in a way that follows one of many layout rules. Unwarranted criticism is sometimes directed at photos with too much negative space. However, used correctly, it can be a powerful compositional tool.
The last artistic element to be recognized is texture. In our mind’s eye, we can picture the feel of an object by its texture. Smoothness reflects light evenly, while coarse texture does the opposite and scatters reflected light. In between those two surfaces is the matte surface.
All of these elements usually work best in an image when there is contrast within them: light and dark, complementary colors like orange and blue, curves and straight, simple and complex shapes, shapes small and large form, positive and negative space, and rough and fine texture. These are just a few of the contrasts suggested by Johannes Itten, the famous Bauhaus tutor, whom I wrote about in an article last May.
But other artistic elements that I think were wrongly left out of the list. That is the only point. It is the basis of all visual elements, a singularity in space and, geometrically, where two lines meet. It is something that stands alone in its category and therefore cannot be contrasted with other points in the way that lines, shapes and forms can. However, it can create contrast with any other element.
As usual, this is just a brief introduction, just barely touching the surface of the topic. If you still wonder about the use of this knowledge, bringing the ideas of these elements into our subconscious will help us to discover new compositions. To that end, I encourage photography students to treat each element as a subject for a hands-on photo session. That will help you be aware of how artistic elements can affect the structure of a photo.
I hope you find that helpful and I will expand on this further in a future post. It would be great to hear your thoughts on this topic below.
