Formal elements of photography

Line:

• Vertical, horizontal, diagonal, curved.
• Lines could be argued that they are the strongest and most important.
• If we have no lines then we have no shape, no shape means no form, no form means no texture and no texture means no pattern.

Shape:

• Shape is the second most fundamental element.
• The shape needs to be in strong contrast with is surroundings, silhouette’s are a good example.

Form:

• 3 dimensional shape .
• Difference between light and shadows illustrate the depth of an object.

Texture:

• Helps move your emotions.
• Light will help create texture, this can help your picture come alive.

Pattern:

• There are only two things to do with pattern. First you can either work with the pattern (emphasise) or you can break the pattern with a contrasting object.

Colour:

• Colour is characterized by hue and saturation.
• Different colours send out different emotions.
• Warm colours: red, orange, pink
• Cold colours: blue, green, grey

Space:

• The are around the subject.
• Positive space means the subject is surrounded with other things (clutter).
• Negative space means the subject is surrounded with simple background elements e.g. ocean, sunset.

Rule of thirds:

This picture was taken from google.

 Each section is a focus point.