Composition

COM 241

Photography I

Lines

• Lines and rules are basic to composition

• Lines can convey pathways for eyes to follow to the center of interest in a photo

• Line can define shapes and boundaries

As parallel lines recede into the distance, they converge to create a sense of depth and perspective. Placing the subject at the juncture of the tracks focuses attention on him.

Antonio Melo, left, and Hector Martinez of Ringer's Erectors carry a steel purling into place on the roof on the new Youth Development Center at the Boys and Girls Club on Davis Boulevard in Naples, Fla. The new building will house science, art, and computer labs, a homework hall, games room, teen center, commercial kitchen, and area for future expansion. David Ahntholz, Naples Daily New

Members of the combined military color guard search for markings on the ground in front of the stage as snow covers the site on the west steps of the Capitol building in preparation for Thursday's inauguration of President George W. Bush. Smiley Pool, The Dallas Morning News

Workers remove seats as they begin the renovation of the Maracana stadium ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 24. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said preparations for the World Cup could be jeopardized if government officials and businessmen fail to work together in the coming years.

Kurt Busch cruises around the track during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Samsung Mobile 500 on Thursday, April 7 in Fort Worth, Texas. Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images

Maksim Anisimov, BLRSki JumpingFeb. 12, 2006Photo: Simon Bruty/SI

Psychiatric Hospital patients stunned by drugs, are left in an abandoned toilet used as a security room for dangerous mental patients. Lack of health care is a constant in the African continent and Mozambique unfortunately is not an exception. Massimo Mastrorillo, freelance

Members of the European Parliament listen to the plenary session debate about securing Europe's gas supplies. The session was held in Strasbourg, France, on Sept. 21.

A parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, in Hoboken, NJ. Charles Sykes / AP

A flock of pigeons roost on power lines in Winston, Ore., on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2008. Robin Loznak/The News-Review

A Volkswagen is swamped by water on Nov. 11 in Salcoats, Scotland, as severe weather engulfed much of the country. Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

A police officer organizes seized bullet cartridges displayed to the press at the regional police headquarters in Cali, southern Colombia, on Dec. 8. Police say they seized more than 10,000 rifle cartridges and hundreds of grenades that belonged to rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Christian Escobar Mora / AP

A person walks along Broad Street in Philadelphia on Dec. 26. Matt Slocum / AP

A maintenance worker clears snow from the TKTS steps in New York City's Times Square during a snowstorm on Dec. 26. Mary Altaffer / AP

Keeping warm - A giraffe looks out at wintry weather, Dec. 23, from its cage at Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Most of the animals at the zoo are being kept inside because they can't stand the cold. Ilvy Njiokiktjien / AFP - Getty Images

Standing-room only - Spectators perched on the stairs watch the inauguration of state Attorney General Kamala Harris at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts on Jan. 3 in Sacramento, Calif. Paul Kitagaki Jr / Sacramento Bee

A worker walks a beam at the construction site of a new railway link for high-speed trains in Hefei, China, on Nov. 4. A worker walks a beam at the construction site of a new railway link for high-speed trains in Hefei, China, on Nov. 4. AFP - Getty Images

A flock of alpine sheep walk on a cliff path on the way from summer grazing high above the Aletschgletscher glacier down to Belalp in the canton of Valais, during the Shepherd's Weekend in Belalp near Blatten, Switzerland on Aug 25. Jean-Christophe Bott / AP

In Patikka, a small village in the Neelum valley, 17 km. from the epicenter - villagers and evacuees have to cross the ruined bridge to get to the Emergency unit set up by Red Cross or to pick up tents and blankets from the small helipad. Robert Stolarik for Time Magazine

A Pakistani man and his son make a day-long journey by foot from their mountain village near Kawai, Pakistan on the damaged road to look for shelter in the city of Balakot October 27, 2005. David Guttenfelder, Associated Press

Deputy Cliff Tice of the Dare County Sheriff's Department walks down damaged and impassable NC 12 leading into Mirlo Beach in Rodanthe, N.C. on Oct. 30. Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

Space• Rule of thirds

– Place important element in photo at intersections of imaginary vertical and horizontal lines

• Don’t center an horizon– Try to place in upper or

lower third of photo

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The point of this photo is that not many people showed up to the game. Cropping in tighter would detract from that message -- the emptiness of the stadium would be less apparent.

Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941. Ansel Adams

A firefighter stands in remembrance of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks and solemnly waves a flag on a basalt cliff overlooking I-90 on Sunday, September 11, 2005, in Spokane, Wash. during periods of rain and cool weather. Jed Conklin, The Spokesman-Review

St. John Neumann football players line the bench taking a break from the summer heat while watching thunder clouds roll in during practice the week before the first game of the season in Naples, Fla. Practice was eventually canceled due to lightning. Lexey Swall, Naples Daily News

JouEarly morning exercise on the side gallops at Newmarket racecourse on Wednesday, Oct. 10 in Newmarket, England. Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images

Ski Jumpers fly off the 120K Men's Nordic Ski Jump. Utah Olympic Park is the highest competition ski jump in the world at 7310 feet above sea level. Steven Currie, Salt Lake Organizing Committee

Barry Bonds' record breaking went soaring through the air and right into the US Superior courts in San Francisco after fans disputed the ownership of the ball. Judge David Garcia ordered the ball to be locked away in a safe deposit box in Milipitas until the case could be decided. John Burgess,The Press Democrat

Agostinho (22) has been recovered in the Sanatory of Machawa for 4 months. He lost her mother and he is HIV positive.

Manico (10) is HIV positive. He lost his family and is actually living with his grandmother, who is also positive and is an activist for the DREAM program. Photos by Massimo Mastrorillo, freelance

Berta (20) is an inmate of the Machawa Prison. She lost her son during the pregnancy but she was accused to have killed him and condemned to six years of detention. She is Hiv positive.

Working in minus 4º cold at England’s Kew Seed Bank, James Wood shelves seeds from the African mugongo treet. The bank has about 4,000 species on deposit. / National Geographic

The hole story - A raccoon peers out from his home in a hole in a tree in Moreland Hills, Ohio on May 15. Amy Sancetta / AP

Clinging to warmth - A squirrel monkey clings to a radiator to keep warm at a zoo in Qingdao city, in eastern China's Shandong province, on Jan. 6. Cold waves have hit many areas of China. Wu Hong / EPA

Ready to play - Philadelphia Flyers center Danny Briere sits in the stands before they play the Boston Bruins in Game 3 of their NHL playoff game in Boston on Wednesday, May 4. Brian Snyder / Reuters

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and wife Ellen share a moment together in the dugout between television interviews after he was awarded the National League Cy Young Award in Los Angeles on Thursday, Nov. 17. David McNew / Reuters

An Indian woman farmer harvests wheat on the outskirts of Jammu, India, May 4. Channi Anand / AP

A boy climbs on a World War II monument at an open-air museum in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 9, during Victory Day celebrations, which mark the 67th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Sergei Supinsky / AFP - Getty Images

Shapes

At left, the use of S-shaped curves and the location of the bullock cart in this northern Thailand scene is perfect. Above, the curve of the elephant’s trunk leads right into the zoo keeper.

The Tetons and the Snake River, Ansel AdamsGrand Teton National Park, Wyoming (1942)

With no church of their own, Pastor Jeff Nyberg of the Stepping Stones Church performs the ceremony as Victor Moreta is baptized in the waters of the swimming pool of the Best Western hotel in McKinney, Wednesday evening, June 8, 2005. Smiley Pool, The Dallas Morning News

Afghan boys play soccer in February 2005 inside an empty Soviet occupation-era swimming pool which was used by the Taliban as a site for executions on a hilltop in Kabul. David Guttenfelder, Associated Press

Museum guards stand among the paintings at the retrospective of the artist Barnett Newman, a major figure among the abstract expressionists, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art this past year. Newman, known for his use of "zips," or stripes, has been called one of the most influential American painters of the 20th century. Eric Mencher, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Nuns form a line to take communion during funeral services for Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Smiley Pool, The Dallas Morning News

The Largest Organ of the Body. To illustrate the size of the skin of the average adult, which is 21 square feet, 11 8 x 10 inch pieces of an artificial skin product called "Integra", were placed onto a large piece of plexiglass while a silhouetted model stood behind. Sarah Leen, National Geographic

Micheal Froberg works at cleaning the inside of a 54 inch water tube while co worker Wayne Patton bolts the tube together that will be part of a indoor water park. Eric Albrecht, Columbus Dispatch

Nearly 30 of Andrew Gillespie's Roanoke Catholic School classmates shaved their heads for support while he's losing his hair due to chemotherapy treatments in his battle against osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. Josh Meltzer, The Roanoke Times

Indian Muslims gather at the Jama Masjid mosque, one of India's largest, for morning prayers on Eid al-Adha in New Delhi, India, on Nov. 17. Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha, or feast of sacrifice, by slaughtering sheep and cattle in remembrance of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son. Kevin Frayer / AP

The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEYIllinois State University students walking to and from class in the Science Laboratory building pass a sculpture in a steady downpour Monday afternoon (Nov. 1), as seen from a second-story study commons.

MONUMENTAL WALK -- A lone visitor to the Jefferson Memorial, Kim Seung Hoon walks down the edge of the marble steps facing the Tidal Basin. Mary F. Calvert, The Washington Times

An Iraqi boy runs toward his mother in front of a 19th century spiral minaret September 25, 2002 in the town of Samara, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Bahgdad. Oleg Nikishin, Getty Images

Tyler Atkins slowly pulls his paintbrush across the ice forming one of the face-off circles used in hockey games at the Casper Ice Arena in Casper, Wyo. Each year the lines are hand-painted on the ice. Robert Hendricks, Casper Star-Tribune

Shawnee Mission Northwest's Blake Trullinger (left) holds his hands in his face in celebration after defeating Wichita Northwest's Derek Patterson (right) for the 125 pound Kansas class 6A wrestling title. Jeff Roberson,The Kansas City Star

Douglass High school wide receiver Marcus Barnett tosses a tire during "Junk Yard Drills" that helps with strength and agility as they prepare for the 2005 season. Jonathan Newton, The Washington Post

Makeshift playground: Children play in water pipes at a construction site on the banks of the Yamuna River in the northern Indian city of Allahabad. Jitendra Prakash / Reuters

A family farm is surrounded by floodwaters near Bachel, in Sindh Province, southern Pakistan, on Aug. 19.

A snowy owl sits in the snow in Essen, Germany, on Nov. 30. Julian Stratenschulte / EPA

Round and round we go - Children play inside steel pipes that will be used in the construction of a water system in Caloocan City, Philippines, on April 4. Noel Celis / AFP - Getty Images

Walk this way - A pedestrian crosses the street on the west side of Newark, N.J., as green lights are seen on street signals, on July 13. Julio Cortez / AP

Down the tube - A visitor rides a slide, July 28, at a water park built inside the National Aquatics Center in Beijing. More than 5,000 people a day visit Asia's largest water park, built within the grounds of the Beijing 2008 Olympics swimming venue, according to park officials. Diego Azubel / EPA

A construction worker emerges from an access hole, Sept. 8, in the floor of a new stadium that is being prepared for the Union of European Football Association Euro 2012 Championships in Kiev, Ukraine Sergei Supinsky / AFP - Getty Images

Globes are seen at the book fair in Frankfurt, Germany, on Oct. 13. This year's edition of the largest book fair in the world takes place from Oct. 12-16. Daniel Roland / AFP