Exercise 1.3: Line

BRIEF – PART 1

Take a number of shots using lines to create a sense of depth. Shooting with a wide- angle 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.

EXECUTION

The following images are taken from below a 21 storey residential building. The angle that these images have been taken from create a dramatic perspective and the strong lines of the building leads the eye upward. The sense of depth and perspective is quite strong in these images.

The second set of images is of the stairways inside the house. The play of light on the glass railings and the steel bars have quite a dramatic impact and some of the images have a sense of abstract to them. The sense of depth, elevated by the various levels of steps going in different directions create dramatic lines and lead the viewer’s eyes in a particular direction.

The third set of images are taken inside the public spaces within the building, like the corridors and stairways. The lines and the shapes they create in turn provide a framework to lead the eyes onto the lines that then create or give a sense of depth, gives a sense of depth when taken from particular angle.

Lastly some random shots of lines. In all the images, above and below, we can see lines forming a sense of depth and perspective to the images and how the strong lines leads the eye to the vanishing point or the illusion of it.

What can be seen in all of the images above is the use of lines to create a senses of depth and perspective and how lines can be used to lead the eye to a particular point that we desire within the frame. The usage of a wide angle lens exaggerates that illusion further. This teaches us how to effectively communicate depth and perspective in a two dimensional image via lines to create a sense of three dimensionality and also how that effect can be enhanced via the use of light and shadows.

BRIEF – PART 2

Now 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. 

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 another ‘rule’ of photography is that ‘leading lines’ should lead somewhere within the frame.

EXECUTION

In the first set of images in this part , I have tried to use the same buildings to create the opposite of what I did above and flatten the pictorial space. To achieve this, I have tried to keep my sensor parallel as advised in the brief. The result is a somewhat flattened outcome, even though we know the objects in the picture are 3D, their representation appears to be flatter and lacking perspective. The sense of depth cannot be seen in these images. A few pictures are taken from the top as well, but the buildings being too high, the sense of depth comes in as you look down, even though they look quite interesting.

The 2nd set in this series is images of windows and ceilings, taken either directly standing in front of it or lying below. The same, when taken from a side angle, creates a sense of depth and perspective, as seen above, but flattens the image when taken directly from below or the front.

In this set, I have tried to take images looking down from four floors, as well as few looking down from 19 floors. What is seen is that the sense of depth seems to get lost in these images, as we see the only the top view of them. That does not mean that the images are less interesting but they are different. In some images, due to not being able to directly take from top, some sense of perspective can still be seen.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This exercise has taught us:

• How lines can be effectively used within a 2D frame to create a sense of depth, perspective and illusion.
• How leading lines can be used to take the viewer’s eyes to a desired place within a frame.
• How lines can be used in different ways to create desired effects like depth and illusion and on the contrary, can be used to flatten a space and create a unique perspective as well.
• In relation to Ex 1.2, where the point links the elements within the frame or can lead the eye to another element within, via an imaginary line, in this exercise we have seen how the line can take the viewer’s eye beyond the frame. The vanishing point is effectively demonstrated through the usage of lines.
• Similar frames can be visualised or depicted in different manners, making it appear 3 dimensional or 2 dimensional as desired.
• Whereas in the first brief, the images appear more realistic, the images shot as per the second brief appear to be more experimental and abstract.