There’s the bell! okay class settle down.

How was your weekend? Hopefully you all took pictures of strangers or really fantastic architecture at least?  Did everyone remember their leading lines homework?

Remember that leading lines draw our eye to a subject or to where the lines meet. Here are some great examples from the #juxtschoolhouse

I took this at a meetup I organized at Eastern State Penitentiary. Eastern State was built in 1829, and was operational until 1971. It housed many notorious inmates over the years, including Al Capone and Willie Sutton. The prison was designed in a wagon-wheel layout, so that a central guard was able to see down the seven cell blocks. These long hallways are perfect for “leading lines” shots! Today, Eastern State is open daily for tours, but there has been no renovation or restoration since it closed 40 years ago, making it creepy and photographically interesting! (and supposedly haunted!) I’m definitely going back for “Terror Behind the Walls,” the haunted house held at the facility in October.

-@hhhbomb Heidi

This is Cortelyou Q train stop in Brooklyn, New York. We can find good perspective & lines in all subway stops, but this one is a bit different than usual MTA stops, with its curved walls, a special bridge house entrance on top and it is not underground, so you can see so much light & green.

-@li9ht7 Elif

This is one of my favourite piers and I particularly love the symmetry of it. This was my friend Rob who happened to be perfectly aligned while taking a shot himself. Even though he is in photo, he doesn’t detract from the lines that lead the eyes to the end.  It was a fun shot!
-@joanna, Joanna

Let’s continue with expanding our compositional vocabulary with diagonal lines this week. I know all of this seems boring but it will all come into play once we move on to bigger subjects.

All of the lines we have talked about can create a dynamic composition and diagonals are yet another great tool. Now there are two ways of shooting at diagonals.

The first is just shooting straight up diagonal lines. Meaning, the lines enter and exit the picture plane at a diagonal. I know rocket science right? I’m dropping bombs over here people.

The second way is, before you shoot a subject, you mentally (or with the help of an app) divide the photo with three diagonal lines. The subject or focal point is the contained within those lines. Using the section of three diagonal lines you shoot accordingly framing your shot within the lines. Think of a rocky beach line. If you were lining the shot up to utilize diagonals you would make sure the beach line (where the waves meet the sand) travels at a diagonal through the picture plane. I, unfortunaly, do not have a beach. I have a horse. A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! Wait this isn’t lit class. My bad *ahem*

So this marks the end of lines for now,we will come back to visit them soon. Remeber to tag your diagonals with #juxtschoolhouse. I have my gold stars ready for giving!

Next week we will be talking about points of view 🙂

About Author

Anna Cox

Latest stories

• Featured ArticlesApril 13, 2015The Storytellers Vol. 4
• StoriesMarch 3, 2015Momdom
• Anna CoxFebruary 24, 2015Captain and the Kid
• Anna CoxJanuary 19, 2015Honest Moments by Caleb Stumpfl