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Posts Tagged ‘Lines’

Invisible Borders: Mirrored Picket Fence Blurs the Lines

06 Mar

[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

Mirrored Fence Illusion 1

Mirrors typically represent a way of facing reality, but depending on where they’re placed, they can bend it to the point of surreality instead. Take, for example, this invisible fence, a striking illusion installed at the Storm King Arts Center by artist Alyson Shotz. Driving past it, you likely wouldn’t even notice it was there, though your eye might be caught by unusual glimmers – tricks of the light.

Mirrored Fence Illusion 2

Mirrored Fence Illusion 3

‘Mirror Fence’ is exactly as the title suggests; a reflective barrier in the shape of a picket fence that’s almost perfectly camouflaged in its environment. The illusion is so effective that you could probably walk right up to it, only realizing that the barrier exists when the reflection of your own legs comes into view.

Mirrored Picket Fence Illusion 4

Mirrored Picket Fence Illusion 5

Though her portfolio reflects a diverse range of shapes and media, Shotz unifies her work with a common aim to “give form to the invisible forces of nature.” Many focus on light itself, such as a sculptural examination of the dual nature of light (as it bears characteristics of both a particle and a wave) entitled Geometry of Light, and a digital animation called ‘Fluid State’ that captures an ocean of reflective spheres over a dawn-to-dusk cycle.

Mirror House Illusion

The installation calls to mind another recent project, ‘Lucid Stead’ by Phillip K Smith III, wherein an abandoned home in the desert was fitted with mirrors that make up doors, windows and long horizontal siding to create the illusion of ghostly floating wood.

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[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Leading Lines: Weekly Photography Challenge

20 Jul

Sunrise on the Boardwalk

This week your photographic challenge is to take and share an image that uses the compositional tool of ‘Leading Lines’ – as written about in our recent post How to Use Leading Lines for Better Compositions.

Rope Slide

This technique can be used in a variety of types of photography including landscapes, architectural photography, street photography and more.

So read our leading lines post and head out with your camera to practice the technique.

Qadmoun K Nishan Khud He Manzil Ka Pata Dengay

Once you’ve taken your ‘Leading Lines’ photos upload your best ones to your favourite photo sharing site either share a link to them even better – embed them in the comments using the our new tool to do so.

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites with Tagging tag them as #DPSLEADINGLINES to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

Also – don’t forget to check out some of the great shots posted in last weeks Before and After challenge – there were some great shots submitted.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Leading Lines: Weekly Photography Challenge


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How to Use Leading Lines for Better Compositions

17 Jul

A leading line paves an easy path for the eye to follow through different elements of a photo. Usually they start at the bottom of the frame and guide the eye upwards and inwards, from the foreground of the image to the background, typically leading toward the main subject.

The easiest place to find a leading line is on a road. Roadways are inherently leading because they go somewhere, give us a feeling of motion, and the lines often point so far inwards that they reach a vanishing point – the place where two or more lines converge into theoretical infinity.

Avenue of Oaks, South Carolina, by Anne McKinnell

The leading lines of the road converge to create a sense of infinity.

When leading lines, such as roads, connect the foreground to the background of a scene, they help to create depth and dimensionality which draws the viewer into the image.

Leading lines are all around us in cities and in nature. Your job as the photographer is to find them and arrange them in your photograph so that they lead towards something, even if that something is infinity.

Sunset at Ross Bay, Victoria, British Columbia, by Anne McKinnell

The logs on the beach draw the viewer’s eye into the frame and lead up to the house.

When you’re setting up a shot, take a moment to examine the scene for its prominent lines. Clear your mind, relax your eyes, and notice where they are naturally drawn to.

Pay special attention to man-made things such as:

  • roads
  • fences
  • boardwalks
  • bridges
  • bricks
  • anything in a row such as lamp posts
  • buildings
  • doorways
  • window panes

In nature, pay particular attention to:

  • rivers
  • shorelines
  • waves
  • sand dunes
  • trees
  • tall grass
  • cliffs
  • rocks
  • sun rays
Boquillas Canyon by Anne McKinnell

The soft leading line of the river’s edge creates depth in the image.

Once you’ve identified your strongest lines, consider how you can use them to enhance your composition. Depending on your intention, you might:

  • create depth and perspective by positioning a strong line leading from the foreground to the background;
  • create a visual journey from one part of your image to another;
  • place your subject where the lines converge to give the subject more importance in the frame and draw the viewer’s attention directly to it; or
  • make a cyclical composition, with the lines leading the eye in a circular motion and never out of the frame.

Arranging the elements in the frame may involve the use of different lenses to change perspective, but usually you can accomplish it simply by moving yourself so that the point of view you choose is purposeful.

Japanese Garden by Anne McKinnell

The leading line of the path leads the eye directly to the maple tree.

Leading lines are the key compositional element that carries our eye through the photograph. They can be used to tell a story, to place emphasis, and to draw a connection between two objects.

Use them creatively and with expressive purpose to help you tell your unique photographic tale.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

How to Use Leading Lines for Better Compositions


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Converging Lines: Weekly Photography Challenge

08 Jun

This week we published a tutorial on using converging lines in the composition of your photos so today we thought it might make a good theme for our weekly challenge.

Empty road

So – your challenge is to grab your camera and head out to find some converging lines to shoot – and then to share those photos with us.

You can see some examples of converging lines in shots in the post from earlier in the week but as you get out and about you’re sure to see them all around you – once you start looking you’ll be amazed how many they are.

Once you’ve taken your converging lines photo upload it to your favourite photo sharing site either share a link to them even better – embed them in the comments using the our new tool to do so.

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites with Tagging tag them as #DPSCONVERGE to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

Also – don’t forget to check out some of the great shots posted in last weeks Critique Yourself challenge – there were some great shots submitted.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Converging Lines: Weekly Photography Challenge


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Classic lines when clients want you to work for free

06 Jun

543946_10151279575903740_1208216722_n.jpg

If you’ve ever spent any time as a self-employed photographer, you’ve not doubt heard countless rationales from clients about why you should work for free, or at least lower your rate. PhotographyTalk.com posted a pitch-perfect list of five classic lines that not only ring true to those of us on staff with freelance backgrounds, but would be perfect punchline setups in an Aaron Johnson ‘What The Duck’ comic strip. Click through to see if any of them sound familiar. (via PhotographyTalk.com)

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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How to Use Converging Lines to Enhance Your Photography

04 Jun
Converging-LinesPhoto by stevacek

When framing a landscape shot one of the types of environmental features that many photographers look for and like to incorporate in their shots is converging lines.

We’ve talked previously about how lines have the potential to add interest to an image – but multiple lines that converge together (or come close to one another) can be a great technique to lead your viewers eye into a shot.

Perhaps the classic example (and one that’s probably been overdone) of converging lines are railway tracks.

Position yourself in the middle of two tracks (after taking a look at what might be coming from behind) and you’ll see the two tracks on either side of you appear to get closer and closer together as they go into the distance.

Take this shot and the natural reaction for those looking at the scene will be for them to follow the lines off into the distance. In a sense the two lines act like a funnel which directs the gaze of those entering them in a certain direction.

The same effect can be achieved with roads or pathways, converging fence lines, a set of stairs, power lines or virtually any other lines that run parallel into the distance or that actually converge at some point.

4 Tips Regarding Converging Lines

1. Experiment with Positioning – the classic railway line shot described above has many possibilities. One is to position the tracks dead center and symmetrically in the shot.

Another positioning would be to step to one side of the tracks and let them run diagonally through your frame from a lower corner to the opposite upper corner. The beauty of this is that you’ll end up with a more dynamic shot. Symmetrical and vertical placement of the lines can be powerful but diagonal lines tend to convey movement.

Alternatively stepping away from the start of the lines can give another perspective – as can holding your camera on an angle to give another diagonal framing of the lines.

 

2. Wide Angle Lenses – different lenses can totally change the impact of a shot with converging lines. I find that a wide angle lens can be particularly useful – especially when positioning yourself between the two lines.

This will help to give the perception that the distance between the lines at the starting point of the image is wider than it is. This exaggeration of the width of your lines can have a powerful impact upon your shot.

Lines-ConvergingPhoto by MarvinOS

3. Positioning the ‘convergence’ – one thing to consider when you have converging lines in an image is that they draw the eye into a shot – towards the point that they converge – this becomes one of the most important parts of this image – a focal point.

As you’re framing your shot ask yourself – ‘where is the most effective position to frame this?”

Keep in mind rules like the Rule of Thirds that says that the intersecting points of imaginary lines a third of the way into an image are key points for positioning points of interest.

Also know that if the point of convergence is outside the frame of the shot that you are leading the eye out of your shot. This could leave a shot unbalanced and with tension – alternatively it could enhance the shot and leave your viewers wondering about the place that they converge.

4. Adding Interest at the Point of Convergence – Sometimes it is worth enhancing the point of convergence with something of interest (for example waiting until a train appears in the distance on the tracks – or positioning a person at the top of stairs) – on other occasions the composition of the shot is strong enough without adding an extra subject.

If you’ve got some examples of converging lines in images that you’ve taken I’d love to see them over at the DPS forums – either in the How I took It or Critique My Shot sections.

Here are a few more Converging Lines shots to illustrate the point and hopefully give a little inspiration.

Converging-Lines-2-1Image by MarkyBon

Converging-Lines-3-1Image by Loving Earth

Converging-Lines-4-1Image by vividiti

Converging-Lines-5-1Image by Lush.i.ous

Converging-Lines-7Image by Aeloux

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

How to Use Converging Lines to Enhance Your Photography


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Lines: Weekly Photography Challenge

09 Mar

Vertigo  - a building covered in buildingsThis week your photographic challenge is to shoot and share an image or two on the theme of ‘lines’.

‘Lines’ are all around us – they’re in architecture, they’re in landscapes, they’re in many of the things we use on a day to day basis.

In photography spotting lines and working with them can really help with composition and have a dynamic impact on an image – they’re also really helpful in leading the eye of people through an image. We’ve talked about using lines in composition numerous times in the past – check out these articles before you go shooting:

  • Using Horizontal Lines in Photography
  • Using Vertical Lines in Photography
  • Using Diagonal Lines in Photography
  • How to Use Converging Lines to Enhance Your Photography

Once you’ve taken your ‘Lines’ image upload it to your favourite photo sharing site and either share a link to it or – embed it in the comments using the our new tool to do so.

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites with Tagging tag them as #DPSLINES to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

Also – don’t forget to check out some of the images posted in our last challenge – Nature challenge where there were some great images submitted.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Lines: Weekly Photography Challenge


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Harvest Energy from Power Lines to Recharge Your Batteries

05 Mar

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

Energy Parasite Gadget 1

The entire city is your power source with an innovative gadget by designer Dennis Siegel that harvests energy from electromagnetic fields and instantly recharges batteries. These ‘energy parasites’ make use of electromagnetic fields produced as a result of information transfer, or as byproducts of electric equipment, from power lines to coffee machines.

Energy Parasite Gadget 2

In a series of images, Siegel holds out the device to gather energy from home appliances and power plants, even hovering creepily beside a cell phone user. An LED light on top of the device will let you know that electromagnetic fields are nearby, and even how strong they are.

Energy Parasite Gadget 3

The energy gathered is stored in a conventional battery, so you can gain ‘redundant’ energy from the power supply of all kinds of electronics and then use the battery to power something else.

Energy Parasite Gadget 4

Siegel created two types of harvesters, one suitable for frequencies below 100Hz, like those produced by home electronics and appliances, and one for higher frequencies like radio broadcast, Bluetooth and WLAN. Imagine if this capability could be built into devices like smartphones, so you never had to worry about losing your charge while out and about.

via Pop Up City

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[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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Flower : EVOLUTION : See : FEEL : Beyond : OBVIOUS! Enjoy : the TEXTURE : the lines! :)

18 Jan

Some cool visual art images:

Flower : EVOLUTION : See : FEEL : Beyond : OBVIOUS! Enjoy : the TEXTURE : the lines! 🙂
visual art
Image by || UggBoy?UggGirl || PHOTO || WORLD || TRAVEL ||
Abstract art

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. The arts of cultures other than the European had become accessible and showed alternative ways of describing visual experience to the artist. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time.

Abstract art, nonfigurative art, nonobjective art, and nonrepresentational art are loosely related terms. They are similar, although perhaps not of identical meaning.

Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. This departure from accurate representation can be only slight, or it can be partial, or it can be complete. Abstraction exists along a continuum. Even art that aims for verisimilitude of the highest degree can be said to be abstract, at least theoretically, since perfect representation is likely to be exceedingly elusive. Artwork which takes liberties, altering for instance color and form in ways that are conspicuous, can be said to be partially abstract. Total abstraction bears no trace of any reference to anything recognizable. In geometric abstraction, for instance, one is unlikely to find references to naturalistic entities. Figurative art and total abstraction are almost mutually exclusive. But figurative and representational (or realistic) art often contains partial abstraction.

Both Geometric abstraction and Lyrical Abstraction are often totally abstract. Among the very numerous art movements that embody partial abstraction would be for instance fauvism in which color is conspicuously and deliberately altered vis-a-vis reality, and cubism, which blatantly alters the forms of the real life entities depicted.
EXPLORE MORE AND SOAR:
WIKIPEDIA = ABSTRACT = TO THE WORLD

Thoughts about abstract…….forms…….

As you see, I do not treat the creation of fiction, that to say the invention and development of fantasies, as a form of abstract thought. I dont wish to deny the uses of the intellect, but sometimes one has the intuition that the intellect by itself will lead one nowhere.
—J. M. Coetzee

Some more……..

Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.
—Georg C. Lichtenberg

Please MORE EXPLORE……..

Evil is the product of the ability of humans to make abstract that which is concrete.
—Jean-Paul Sartre

Flower : EVOLUTION : See : FEEL : Beyond : OBVIOUS! Enjoy : the TEXTURE : the lines! 🙂
visual art
Image by || UggBoy?UggGirl || PHOTO || WORLD || TRAVEL ||
Abstract art

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. The arts of cultures other than the European had become accessible and showed alternative ways of describing visual experience to the artist. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time.

Abstract art, nonfigurative art, nonobjective art, and nonrepresentational art are loosely related terms. They are similar, although perhaps not of identical meaning.

Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. This departure from accurate representation can be only slight, or it can be partial, or it can be complete. Abstraction exists along a continuum. Even art that aims for verisimilitude of the highest degree can be said to be abstract, at least theoretically, since perfect representation is likely to be exceedingly elusive. Artwork which takes liberties, altering for instance color and form in ways that are conspicuous, can be said to be partially abstract. Total abstraction bears no trace of any reference to anything recognizable. In geometric abstraction, for instance, one is unlikely to find references to naturalistic entities. Figurative art and total abstraction are almost mutually exclusive. But figurative and representational (or realistic) art often contains partial abstraction.

Both Geometric abstraction and Lyrical Abstraction are often totally abstract. Among the very numerous art movements that embody partial abstraction would be for instance fauvism in which color is conspicuously and deliberately altered vis-a-vis reality, and cubism, which blatantly alters the forms of the real life entities depicted.
EXPLORE MORE AND SOAR:
WIKIPEDIA = ABSTRACT = TO THE WORLD

Thoughts about abstract…….forms…….

As you see, I do not treat the creation of fiction, that to say the invention and development of fantasies, as a form of abstract thought. I dont wish to deny the uses of the intellect, but sometimes one has the intuition that the intellect by itself will lead one nowhere.
—J. M. Coetzee

Some more……..

Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.
—Georg C. Lichtenberg

Please MORE EXPLORE……..

Evil is the product of the ability of humans to make abstract that which is concrete.
—Jean-Paul Sartre

 
Comments Off on Flower : EVOLUTION : See : FEEL : Beyond : OBVIOUS! Enjoy : the TEXTURE : the lines! :)

Posted in Photographs

 

Glass : EVOLUTION : See : FEEL : Beyond : OBVIOUS! Enjoy : the TEXTURE : the lines! :)

18 Jan

Some cool visual art images:

Glass : EVOLUTION : See : FEEL : Beyond : OBVIOUS! Enjoy : the TEXTURE : the lines! 🙂
visual art
Image by || UggBoy?UggGirl || PHOTO || WORLD || TRAVEL ||
Abstract art

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. The arts of cultures other than the European had become accessible and showed alternative ways of describing visual experience to the artist. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time.

Abstract art, nonfigurative art, nonobjective art, and nonrepresentational art are loosely related terms. They are similar, although perhaps not of identical meaning.

Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. This departure from accurate representation can be only slight, or it can be partial, or it can be complete. Abstraction exists along a continuum. Even art that aims for verisimilitude of the highest degree can be said to be abstract, at least theoretically, since perfect representation is likely to be exceedingly elusive. Artwork which takes liberties, altering for instance color and form in ways that are conspicuous, can be said to be partially abstract. Total abstraction bears no trace of any reference to anything recognizable. In geometric abstraction, for instance, one is unlikely to find references to naturalistic entities. Figurative art and total abstraction are almost mutually exclusive. But figurative and representational (or realistic) art often contains partial abstraction.

Both Geometric abstraction and Lyrical Abstraction are often totally abstract. Among the very numerous art movements that embody partial abstraction would be for instance fauvism in which color is conspicuously and deliberately altered vis-a-vis reality, and cubism, which blatantly alters the forms of the real life entities depicted.
EXPLORE MORE AND SOAR:
WIKIPEDIA = ABSTRACT = TO THE WORLD

Thoughts about abstract…….forms…….

As you see, I do not treat the creation of fiction, that to say the invention and development of fantasies, as a form of abstract thought. I dont wish to deny the uses of the intellect, but sometimes one has the intuition that the intellect by itself will lead one nowhere.
—J. M. Coetzee

Some more……..

Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.
—Georg C. Lichtenberg

Please MORE EXPLORE……..

Evil is the product of the ability of humans to make abstract that which is concrete.
—Jean-Paul Sartre

Flower : EVOLUTION : See : FEEL : Beyond : OBVIOUS! Enjoy : the TEXTURE : the lines! 🙂
visual art
Image by || UggBoy?UggGirl || PHOTO || WORLD || TRAVEL ||
Abstract art

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. The arts of cultures other than the European had become accessible and showed alternative ways of describing visual experience to the artist. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time.

Abstract art, nonfigurative art, nonobjective art, and nonrepresentational art are loosely related terms. They are similar, although perhaps not of identical meaning.

Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. This departure from accurate representation can be only slight, or it can be partial, or it can be complete. Abstraction exists along a continuum. Even art that aims for verisimilitude of the highest degree can be said to be abstract, at least theoretically, since perfect representation is likely to be exceedingly elusive. Artwork which takes liberties, altering for instance color and form in ways that are conspicuous, can be said to be partially abstract. Total abstraction bears no trace of any reference to anything recognizable. In geometric abstraction, for instance, one is unlikely to find references to naturalistic entities. Figurative art and total abstraction are almost mutually exclusive. But figurative and representational (or realistic) art often contains partial abstraction.

Both Geometric abstraction and Lyrical Abstraction are often totally abstract. Among the very numerous art movements that embody partial abstraction would be for instance fauvism in which color is conspicuously and deliberately altered vis-a-vis reality, and cubism, which blatantly alters the forms of the real life entities depicted.
EXPLORE MORE AND SOAR:
WIKIPEDIA = ABSTRACT = TO THE WORLD

Thoughts about abstract…….forms…….

As you see, I do not treat the creation of fiction, that to say the invention and development of fantasies, as a form of abstract thought. I dont wish to deny the uses of the intellect, but sometimes one has the intuition that the intellect by itself will lead one nowhere.
—J. M. Coetzee

Some more……..

Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.
—Georg C. Lichtenberg

Please MORE EXPLORE……..

Evil is the product of the ability of humans to make abstract that which is concrete.
—Jean-Paul Sartre

 
Comments Off on Glass : EVOLUTION : See : FEEL : Beyond : OBVIOUS! Enjoy : the TEXTURE : the lines! :)

Posted in Photographs