Glance at the summary firstThe summary from the end of the lesson, as a road map before you start reading.
Leading lines are real lines such as roads, fences and shorelines, or implied ones such as a gaze or a row, and the viewer's gaze tends to follow them. Lines coming closer together build depth by meeting at the vanishing point, and a low, wide angle strengthens this effect; although diagonal, vertical, horizontal and curving lines stir different feelings in most viewers, these are tendencies, not rules. Looking at where a line enters and where it ends, and making the face where it ends readable and correctly exposed, on every skin, brings the gaze's walk to a meaningful place.
Learning goal
You will be able to see the roads, fences, shorelines and gazes in a scene as lines that will carry the viewer's eye to the subject, and build your frame according to these lines. You will tell real lines apart from implied lines formed by a gaze or a row; you will explain how lines that come closer together build a sense of depth; you will recognize the tendency of diagonal and curving lines to stir different feelings in most viewers; you will place the start and end of a line in the frame deliberately; and you will make sure that the face the line's gaze reaches is readable and correctly exposed, on every skin.
The question
You are walking along a vineyard road. On both sides of the road there are wooden fences, and behind the fences, vines; at the end of the road, in the shade of a walnut tree, an old woman stands carrying a basket of grapes on her head. When you hold the camera at chest height and photograph the road in a straight frame, the woman stays a small figure and the gaze scatters all over the frame. When you crouch and shoot from beside the fence, bringing the road into the frame from a corner, though, the fences and the edges of the road stretch out, narrowing toward the woman, and the frame suddenly pulls together.
How does the eye walk through a photograph? The gaze of a person looking at a photo usually doesn't wander at random; clear edges, roads and lines tend to draw a route for this wandering. In this lesson we will talk about leading lines, how they are built, and what to watch for while they carry the gaze to the subject.
Context
In the module where we talked about the foundations of composition, we learned what a frame is, choosing a photo's main character, and placing them somewhere in the frame as in Lesson 6.3. In those lessons the question was where the subject would stand. This module's question is different: how will the viewer get there?
A photograph appears to the viewer as a whole all at once; but the gaze still starts somewhere, stops at some places, and lingers at others. Lines, patches, bright and dark areas affect this wandering. In this module we will treat these structures inside the frame, that is, lines, frames, patterns, empty space, layers, angle and balance, as tools for guiding the gaze. None of them is a rule; all of them are options you can use to build the effect you want.
Simple explanation
What is a line in a photograph?
In a photograph, a line is any long edge the eye can follow. Roads, rails, fences, riverbanks, stair railings, the bases of walls and rows of paving stones are lines that really exist. Besides these there are also implied lines: the direction a person is looking, an outstretched arm, birds or trees lined up in a row. These aren't drawn, but the eye tends to follow them like a line.
A leading line is a line that picks up the gaze somewhere in the frame and brings it to the subject. It usually starts from an edge or a corner of the frame and ends at the subject. That is why, when building a leading line, you look at two things: where does the line enter, and where does it end? When the fences on the vineyard road enter from the bottom corners of the frame and narrow toward the woman, the gaze tends to walk along them all the way to the woman.
How do lines build depth?
Lines that are really parallel come closer together in a photograph as they go farther away, and look as if they meet at a point in the distance. This point is called the vanishing point. The two edges of a road, the two rails of a track, or the two walls of a corridor meet this way. These lines coming closer together build a strong sense of depth in a two-dimensional frame.
This effect grows stronger with the viewpoint. In Lesson 12.2 we saw that a wide angle puts you right up against the subject; when you look from a place close to the lines and low down, with a wide angle, the nearby lines take up wide and long space in the frame, while their far ends narrow quickly. This lets the lines read like a stronger arrow. Placing the subject at the vanishing point or close to it makes it easier for the gaze to find the subject at the end of the lines.
What does a line's shape change?
The shape of lines also changes the gaze's wandering. Horizontal lines feel still and calm to most viewers; vertical lines bring height and standing upright forward. A diagonal, that is, a line running slanted across the frame, tends to stir a feeling of movement or tension in many viewers. A road or a river moving forward in curves, in the shape called an S-curve, moves the gaze forward more slowly by leading it right and left around the frame.
These aren't firm rules, but tendencies seen in most viewers; the same line can read differently in a different context. What matters is to look at where a line takes the gaze. If a line stretches out of the frame, it can carry the gaze out too; sometimes this is wanted, because it gives the feeling that something continues beyond the frame. If a line passes right through the subject, for example through a person's neck, it can look as if it cuts them; one step to the side usually fixes this.
What is at the end of the line?
A leading line carries the gaze somewhere; but something has to be in that place. When the line reaches the subject, the subject has to be readable: big enough, sharp enough and correctly exposed. If the gaze follows a long road and in the end reaches a dark patch without detail, the expectation the line built comes to nothing.
This matters especially in frames where the line reaches a person's face. If the line is a bright road or a sunny fence and the face is in the shade of a tree, the camera's metering can shift toward the bright lines and the face can stay dark. On dark skin, this means the face sinks into shadow; on light skin, it means the face turns a dull gray because of a bright line next to it. Building the exposure not for the lines but for the face at the end of the line makes sure the gaze finds a person where it arrives.
Visual evidence
You go back to the vineyard road. You crouch and shoot with a wide angle from the foot of the fence. The two edges of the dirt road and the wooden fences on both sides enter from the bottom corners of the frame and meet, narrowing toward the walnut tree at the end of the road. The woman stands just in front of the place where these lines meet, in the top third of the frame; two thick branches of the tree meet above her head.
In the first frame the camera has exposed for the sunny road and the fences; the woman, olive-skinned, with her basket on her head, is a dark silhouette in the shade of the tree. When you open the exposure a stop and a half for her face and shoot again, the road glows a little, but the woman's face, her wrinkles and the bloom on the grapes in the basket can be read. The gaze walks along the fences and finds a person's face at the end of the road. The same road, the same woman; what changed was where the lines started and the exposure of the face waiting at the end.
Common mistakes
Common mistakePutting lines in the frame and not looking at where they lead.
The gaze can follow the line and go out into an empty place or out of the frame. The fix: look at where the line ends, and place the subject there or near it.
Common mistakeApplying lines like firm rules.
That a diagonal gives movement and a horizontal calm is a tendency. The fix: look with your own eye at how the line carries the gaze in this scene.
Common mistakeLeaving the exposure set for the bright lines and leaving the face at the end of the line in the dark.
The gaze finds nothing where it arrives. The fix: build the exposure for the face at the end of the line.
Summary
Leading lines are real lines such as roads, fences and shorelines, or implied ones such as a gaze or a row, and the viewer's gaze tends to follow them. Lines coming closer together build depth by meeting at the vanishing point, and a low, wide angle strengthens this effect; although diagonal, vertical, horizontal and curving lines stir different feelings in most viewers, these are tendencies, not rules. Looking at where a line enters and where it ends, and making the face where it ends readable and correctly exposed, on every skin, brings the gaze's walk to a meaningful place.
Mini assignment
In this assignment you will find lines and build frames that carry the gaze to the subject.
- Find a road, a fence, a staircase or a row of paving stones; photograph it first in a straight frame, then so that it enters from a corner of the frame, crouching down on your knees and using a short focal length.
- Find the vanishing point of two lines coming closer together, and place a subject near that point.
- Using a line implied by the direction a person is looking, build a frame in which the gaze reaches what they are looking at.
- Photograph a face standing in shade at the end of a bright line, first with automatic exposure, then building the exposure for the face.
Check yourself
- Did the frame with the line entering from a corner carry your gaze to the subject more easily than the straight frame?
- When you placed the subject near the vanishing point, did the frame look deeper?
- Can the eyes and wrinkles be made out in the face at the end of the line, or has the face turned into a silhouette?
Glossary
| Term | Short definition |
|---|---|
| Leading line | A line that carries the viewer's gaze from somewhere in the frame to the subject. |
| Implied line | A line that isn't drawn but is formed by a gaze, a gesture or a row, and that the eye follows. |
| Vanishing point | The point where lines that are really parallel look as if they meet in the distance in a photograph. |
| Diagonal | A line running slanted across the frame that tends to stir a feeling of movement or tension in most viewers. |
| S-curve | A line moving forward in curves, like a road or a river, that slows the gaze by leading it around the frame. |
Mini quiz
1. Which is an example of an implied line?
- A) The edge of a road
- B) A railway track
- C) The direction a person is looking
- D) The boards of a fence
2. What is the point called where lines that are really parallel look as if they meet in the distance?
- A) The vanishing point
- B) The focal point
- C) The intersection point
- D) The point of sharpness
3. Which viewpoint is often used to strengthen the effect of leading lines?
- A) From very far away, with a long lens
- B) From directly overhead
- C) From a place close to the lines and low down, with a wide angle
- D) Looking at the lines at right angles
4. If the face of a dark-skinned person standing in shade at the end of a bright road comes out dark, what do you do?
- A) Leave the exposure set for the road
- B) Take the road out of the frame
- C) Stop down the aperture
- D) Build the exposure for the face at the end of the line
Answers
- C — The direction of a gaze isn't a drawn line, but the eye tends to follow it like a line.
- A — Parallel lines come closer as they go farther away and look as if they meet at the vanishing point.
- C — When you look from a close, low place with a wide angle, the nearby lines take up long space and their ends narrow quickly.
- D — There has to be a readable face where the gaze arrives; the exposure is built for the face, not the lines.
Summary card
- Line: any long edge the eye can follow; there are implied lines too.
- Where does the line enter, where does it end? Put the subject at the end point.
- Lines coming closer meet at the vanishing point and build depth; a low, wide angle strengthens it.
- The feelings of line shapes are tendencies, not rules.
- Make the face at the end of the line readable and correctly exposed on every skin.
Bridge to the next lesson
At the end of the vineyard road, two thick branches of the walnut tree met like an arch above the woman's head. The lines carried the gaze all the way to the woman; this arch formed by the branches, on the other hand, took her inside a frame. What happens to a photo when doors, windows, arches and branches surround a subject? Why are doors and windows so powerful? The next lesson talks about building a second frame inside the frame, and how this emphasizes the subject.