Elements and Principles of Design

Leading Lines:  Technique of photography that leads the viewers eye straight to the main.

The lines of flowers lead to the windmill creating a leading line image.

Vertical Lines: Communicate a sense of strength, power, rigidity, and solidarity to the viewer. 

 The trees are straight up making them vertical and they are just trees but it is very different.

Horizontal Lines: Represent peace, tranquility, and quietness.

                         
                         

Complex line elements, such as curves, shape, tones, and color.

Diagonal Lines: unbalanced and appear to be unstable but what they communicate is very dynamic yet precarious.

                         

The bridge looks like it could fall any second even though it is stable.

Curved Lines: have a unique ability to add beauty and grace to a photo.

This picture is simple but when you see it with the curved lines it adds a depth 

                   
Symmetrical Balance: perfectly centered compositions or those with mirror images.

You can see a mirroring image of the Taj Mahal in the water.

Asymmetrical Balance: one or more dissimilar objects on either side of the photo and these objects are not uniform in their appearance.

The rocks are not in any way symmetrical and they are not uniform.

Unity:  all elements of the piece combine to make a balanced, harmonious, complete whole.

There are four different colored leafs to make one big leaf.

Variety: obtained through the use of diversity and change by artists who wish to increase the visual interest in their work.

There are different types of donuts in the picture.

Movement: the path the viewer's eye takes through the artwork, often to a focal area.
Rhythm: a movement in which some elements recur regularly.

The cheetah is moving and it catches the viewer's eye.

Emphasis: an area or object within the artwork that draws attention and becomes a focal point. 

The flowers are blurred so the rings are the main focus of the picture.

Proportion/ Scale: -the size of an object in relationship to another object.

- the relative size of parts of a whole.

The hand is made to look like it is holding the hot air balloon but really it is just the way it is angled.

Repetition/ pattern: repeating visual elements such as lines, color, shape, texture, value or image tends to unify the total effect of a work of art as well as create rhythm.

The bird feathers have a repeated pattern o black, white, black white, etc.

Bird's Eye View: an elevated view of an object from above with a perspective, as though the observer were a bird.

In this image you can see the whole view of the river and city area.

Worm's Eye View: a view as seen from below or from a humble positions.

This picture is taken at angle to make it look like there is a worm or something looking at it.

Horizon Line: where Earth meets the sky.

The horizon is drawn between the lake and the mountain.

Rule of Thirds: aligning a subject with the guidelines and their intersection points.

The picture is divided by 3x3 and the different things are intersected.

Framing: using other objects in your photograph to frame the main object.

The little ring is used to frame the building.

Simplicity: looks for ways to give the center of interest in your pictures the most visual attention.

Everything behind the dog is blurred to make the dog the main focus.

Texture: helps to emphasize the features and details in a photograph.

This photo was taken to show the details of the scales of the snake.