Photography 1: The Art of Photography

Project: Lines
Exercise: Diagonals

For this exercise four photographs were taken, which used diagonals strongly.  Diagonals can be found in many places and I attempted to include a variety of subjects and locations.

The four photographs are shown below:

4924.jpg; Pentax *ist D; 18-55mm lens; F9.5; 1/45s

4921.jpg; Pentax *ist D; 18-55mm lens; F4.5; 1/10s

4917.jpg; Pentax *ist D; 18-55mm lens; F8; 1/20s

4872.jpg; Pentax *ist D; 18-55mm lens; F11; 1/350s

Images in the text book that use diagonals include "A family on Their Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, New York, 1969".  The linear perspective of the converging lines form diagonals.  There is a bold diagonal formed by the tent in Matthew Brady's image "John Henry, A Well Remembered Servant, 1865".  William Henry Fox Talbot's image "The Open Door" uses the diagonal formed by the angle of the leaning broom.

What did I learn from this exercise?

Diagonals have a much greater sense of movement and direction than verticals and horizontals.  This is partly because they make an immediate contrast with the frame edges, and partly because they have an association of being physically unstable, even of falling.  Diagonals are extremely useful as graphic devices in a composition.  They can add an overall sense of activity to the image, and specifically catch the eye and take it along their length.  Diagonals are an important element in controlling the way someone looks at a photograph.

Good placement of a natural line can very effectively focus attention on the subject, connect different areas of the image together, or create movement and depth.  Diagonal lines in particular impart a feeling of motion and vitality - they seem to be rising or falling, or moving away from or towards the viewer.