What are Leading Lines in Photography and How to use them

Photography is a subject you can keep on learning in and there’ll be still some new things to observe and practice. According to me the composition and lighting are the key factors that can make or break your pictures.

What are Leading Lines?

They exist in the picture quite clearly but sometimes you have to pay a close attention and see where they’re actually placed. It creates a sense of depth.

Though they might be hard to recognize for people who are not into photography as such, they still create an amazing visual experience in the photograph.

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The most common place where you can find leading lines is on the roads. It is because the roads are always leading somewhere and it will draw the viewer’s eye to the subject if you place it at the vanishing point. A vanishing point is where the two or more lines converge.

Here are some examples, all the due credits go to the respective Photographers, I don’t own any of the pictures shown below:

Who isn’t a fan of Steve McCurry’s phenomenal work? He is an American photographer, freelancer and photojournalist. His most famous photo is of the “Afghan Girl”, the girl with the piercing green eyes that periodically appears on the cover of National Geographic.

This picture is perfection to look at! Do you see how all those lines lead to Manushi? This makes the viewer’s eyes to focus instantly on the subject and not wander off anywhere else.

Why is composition so important?

There are about 3 seconds, that’s all the time I need to fall in love with a picture. Some minor mistakes in the photograph can be very odd to look at sometimes and when I find one, I just can’t see anything else in the picture.

For example, a cropped out joint. This is a very very basic rule you have to follow. Yes, I know rules are made to be broken and Photography is an art etc, this is just a suggestion which I think should be taken care of.

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Never crop at the joints in the body like the elbow and the knee. It makes their body look a bit odd and isn’t flattering to look at.

When to use leading lines?

Try to leading lines around you while you’re shooting. Always make sure that you use them in the right way. The lines should point to something significant, probably the subject of your photograph and not into a vague space.

In the picture shown above, the leading lines are not leading to anything at all. This is the incorrect use of leading lines.

Where to find them?

If you’re shooting in a city, you can find them in roads, bricks, buildings, cars, doors etc. And if you’re shooting out in the open nature, you can find them in rivers, trees, mountains, sun rays etc.

Hope you find this post on leading lines in Photography. If you have any questions or suggestions on how to use them more effectively, let me know in the comment below!

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