Exercise 1.3.1 Line
Take a number of shots using lines to create a sense of depth. Shooting with a wideangle lens (zooming out) strengthens a diagonal line by giving it more length within the frame. The effect is dramatically accentuated if you choose a viewpoint close to the line.
Each of the above images lead the eye through the image and create a sense of depth.
Exercise 1.3.2 Line
Take a number of shots using lines to flatten the pictorial space. To avoid the effects of perspective, the sensor/film plane should be parallel to the subject and you may like to try a high viewpoint (i.e. looking down). Modern architecture offers strong lines and dynamic diagonals, and zooming in can help to create simpler, more abstract compositions.
I find this image interesting. The steps appear flat whereas the diagonal line shows depth. Almost an optical illusion.
These are kitchen hot rods laid horizontally and photographed at an acute angle. The furthest rods were spaced further apart to distort the perspective and flatten the pictorial space.
The two images below are experiments with different effects on the same image file.
Review your shots from both parts of Exercise 1.3. How do the different lines relate to the frame? There’s an important difference from the point exercises: a line can leave the frame. For perpendicular lines this doesn’t seem to disrupt the composition too much, but for perspective lines the eye travels quickly along the diagonal and straight out of the picture. It feels uncomfortable because the eye seems to have no way back into the picture except the point that it started from. So for photographs containing strong perspective lines or ‘leading lines’, it’s important that they lead somewhere within the frame.
