Lesson 8 – Diagonal Lines

A good way to compose a dynamic image is to have a diagonal line that goes through your picture from corner to corner, or 1/3 down from the top to 1/3 from the bottom. The line can be a street, a fence rail, a road or coastline. All that creates a line or division of the image.

If the line rises or falls create different feelings about the image. Typically, for English speaking people and others with "left-right" direction of writing, if a line on the image top left to bottom right, which seems to be the face of the image. If the line rises from the lower left to upper right, which seems out of the picture.

You can use these concepts to create certain feelings in the picture. As an example, a person standing next to a lake - in the bottom line, this would suggest people in the image and therefore would perhaps happier and more spacious. If the line rises to the left indicates person and therefore is more distant and removed.

Diagonal lines in the images can be used for what is called a "main line", which helps bring the point of view of the image through directionally. Typically, you have lines of "points" on the main subject of your photo - that puts the main lines of negative space (space is more negative in Class 11)

Exercise: Find a place where you can use a line running diagonally through the image. Take two images, one with the line, the drop in the image from left to right, the other rising to the right.