Tag: photography

December’s theme / technique: Shape and Form

Line, shape, and form are three building blocks to add depth and interest to your photos. How do you use them in your photography?

Shape and form are not the same.

Shape: Squares, rectangles, circles, and triangles. Shapes are two-dimensional and “flat” in nature. Think about a bird silhouetted against the sky, easily recognisable as a bird by its shape.

• • • • Organic shapes occur frequently in nature (hence the name). They include curves, such as those you might see in the petal of a flower and irregular shapes such as those you might see on a rock face.
      • Geometric shapes, on the other hand, are straight and symmetrical. Often man-made and found in architecture, roads and bridges
      • Regular shapes such as circles, squares and triangles with even sides convey a sense of order and stability. Note that when squares and rectangles occupy a huge part of the photo without anything else, it will appear very flat. Triangles can act as arrows to direct the attention of the viewer.
      • Irregular shapes such as rectangles, skewed triangles, parallelograms and ovals can give a photograph the illusion of motion or simply make it seem more dynamic.

Positive shape: What you see is what you get. Positive shapes are whatever the objects/buildings/things are.

Negative shape: Whatever shape that is created in the negative space as in an archway that is formed by various rock formations or two swans facing each other forming that wonderful heart shape.

Form: Spheres, cubes, cylinders, and pyramids. Forms are three-dimensional and have “volume”.

1. 1. 1. For the simplest version of this idea, look at shooting into the sun, or a bright light behind your subject which created silhouettes (shapes, 2D)
      2. Shape – negative space counts too in highlighting a subject’s shape.
      3. Form – is created by light and shadows changing shapes into a 3D
      4. A 3D object can also have a strong shape
      5. Move around your subject — see how lighting and shadows changes the shape and form.

This week's assignment - find an object that seems interesting because of the way the light strikes it, or because of its volume, your photograph should focus more on your subject's form

Tip: If your subject is more interesting because of its form, you will be more concerned with light and shadow and how you can best emphasise the three dimensional shape of the object.

Continue reading 2020 Photo Challenge #50

December’s theme / technique: Shape and Form

If you want to see what this month’s assignments are in advance then please click here. All the assignments are available from the menu on the left under the 2020 Photo Challenge / Assignments.

Line, shape, and form are three building blocks to add depth and interest to your photos. How do you use them in your photography?

Shape and form are not the same.

Shape: Squares, rectangles, circles, and triangles. Shapes are two-dimensional and “flat” in nature. Think about a bird silhouetted against the sky, easily recognisable as a bird by its shape.

• • • • Organic shapes occur frequently in nature (hence the name). They include curves, such as those you might see in the petal of a flower and irregular shapes such as those you might see on a rock face.
      • Geometric shapes, on the other hand, are straight and symmetrical. Often man-made and found in architecture, roads and bridges
      • Regular shapes such as circles, squares and triangles with even sides convey a sense of order and stability. Note that when squares and rectangles occupy a huge part of the photo without anything else, it will appear very flat. Triangles can act as arrows to direct the attention of the viewer.
      • Irregular shapes such as rectangles, skewed triangles, parallelograms and ovals can give a photograph the illusion of motion or simply make it seem more dynamic.

Positive shape: What you see is what you get. Positive shapes are whatever the objects/buildings/things are.

Negative shape: Whatever shape that is created in the negative space as in an archway that is formed by various rock formations or two swans facing each other forming that wonderful heart shape.

Form: Spheres, cubes, cylinders, and pyramids. Forms are three-dimensional and have “volume”.

1. 1. 1. For the simplest version of this idea, look at shooting into the sun, or a bright light behind your subject which created silhouettes (shapes, 2D)
      2. Shape – negative space counts too in highlighting a subject’s shape.
      3. Form – is created by light and shadows changing shapes into a 3D
      4. A 3D object can also have a strong shape
      5. Move around your subject — see how lighting and shadows changes the shape and form.

This week's assignment - get out and find an object where its outline is more dominant than its three dimensional qualities, you need to approach your photograph with an eye for shape rather than form. 

Tip: If your subject is more interesting because of its shape, you need to focus more on angle, perspective and the placement of other objects in the scene.

Continue reading 2020 Photo Challenge #49