Date post: | 25-May-2015 |
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Design |
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Visual Elements in Art & Photography
Introduction
Over the past 2 weeks I have been researching the visual elements in
both art & photography.
Throughout this presentation I will share my findings and demonstrate with
images how I have incorporated my new found knowledge on the visual
elements
Visual Elements
Line Pattern
Shape Texture
Form Tone/Value
Think of these elements as tools, they can help make an amazing photograph/image.
What makes a good photograph? Combining the above elements can create depth and feeling to a seemingly flat picture. I will explain, in detail how each element can effect an image if added in the correct way.
Line: The direction & orientation of a line can produce
different emotions & feelings in an image:
Horizontal Lines evoke
tranquility, peace
and stability
Vertical Lines show strength, power and growth. This image in particular is an excellent example of portraying
strength and greatness with horizontal lines. The vertical lines
of the rock face creates greatness, strength and power.
The climber puts the size and greatness of the rock into scale.
The horizon in the background portrays a calm peaceful feeling
as discussed in the previous paragraph on HORIZONTAL LINES.
The two put together create a strong but also peaceful image.
FORMForm refers to the shape & depth of an object due to light & dark areas, giving contrast that creates volume
making the object appear to be 3d
Factors that are involved are the direction of light, above, below & behind.
Placing the light source to the left of
The subject created volume and
Accentuated the tummy. The highlights
& shadows created a beautiful Outline & created
a beautiful contour. This technique is also known
as the Rembrandt lighting technique. One of my
Favorites in maternity shoots as the
highlights/lowlights create shape & form but it
helps add softness to the shadows.
SHAPETwo dimensional objects can be used to create feeling and
atmosphere in an image
Triangles are known as a symbol of magic, strength, creativity, whilst squares & rectangles portray strength.
Circles when unbroken symbolise eternity, wholeness and protection.
Silhouettes are a great way of highlighting your shape in your photograph. In this image
I tried to portray me and my
girls unity and us embracing
the beautiful sunset, I think
capturing this image as a silhouetted
strengthened our shape as being the
main focus
Colour Colour affects humans. I also discovered that men & women respond to
colours in different ways
Colour affects us emotionally, different colours reflect different emotions. In short, colour is quite capable in affecting our nervous systems. I now make a conscious effort to manipulate colours to reflect different emotions in my images.
HUE: is primary colours RED, BLUE and GREEN
VALUE: is lightness & darkness (amount of black & white added)
INTENSITY: the saturation (brightness of colour) or purity of colour
I understand that colours can compliment
each other and colours can be
harmonious (ANALOGOUS). They can be
Warm (appearing advanced) or cool
(move to the distance/background)
Texture & PatternTactile Texture: 3d, can touch to feel what the given texture is.
Visual Texture: 2d, giving the illusion of what of a texture in something we see.
I learnt that LIGHT is the important factor in how we SEE texture in images and seen as though we cant feel the texture of an image of a brick wall, as photographers we rely on light the help highlight the different depths and levels of the objects surface.
PATTERNS are everywhere! Patterns create depth and texture to an object, or if you want to just highlight the natural pattern of one object, cropped field, be sure not to add a beautiful hilly background into the scene as this would draw the viewers eye away from the patterns created in the cropped field. If taken on an overcast day or at night, without LIGHT you would find it difficult to see the affects of the plough as there is no light to create highlights and shadows.
Elements in unisonHaving learnt in depth the visual elements, I now have to learn to put
them altogether like one big happy family into an image (or maybe a few, the odd one can be left out, we all have an uncle *@o$ head don’t we?)
One word that springs to mind is coherence, belonging together in relation to shape, colour & size etc. Visually this can be done by using analogous colour, tonal colour and similar shapes, sizes and textures,
Too much of one can lead to boredom leading the viewers eye astray, hence why I said it’s a must to include at least a few visual elements together. You can use a particular element to dominate an image or particular object in the image eg.
The image on left uses colour to dominate the main object
shape and size. Complimentry colours are used to create
Contrast and to add to the size & shape, warm colours are
advancing and cooler distancing.
SummaryI have been given a project on self portraits,
taking into account the visual elements. I thought I would add a twist by doing a collage of symbolic self portraits instead, I mean, who wants to look at my ugly mush!??
Symbolic Self Portrait based on the visual elements