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Lens-Artists Challenge #359 – Tools of Photo Composition: Lines, Colors, and Patterns

Lines, Colors, Patterns

This week, the challenge is to examine your gallery or go on a photo walk. The objective is to find examples of photographs that feature compositional elements such as lines, patterns, or colors. There are times that you can find all three examples in one photograph, as in my opening photo of a sandstone outcrop. Centuries of erosion from wind and water have created the pattern of lines and earth tones in this sandstone. Photographing it at an angle allowed me to feature more of the outcropping, with the bonus that diagonal lines are typically more dynamic than vertical or horizontal lines. The angle of the sun in late afternoon provided shadows that enhanced the sense of depth in the variations.

Great Basin Scenic Highway-6
Leading line framed by negative space

The Great Basin Scenic Byway (U.S. Highway 93 in Nevada) may not be the loneliest road in America, but it shares pavement with one that is—U.S. Highway 50. We pulled into a roadside turnout, and I stepped briefly into the empty highway to capture this image. This photo features a leading line, the roadway, tapering from full frame to a slender ribbon; it draws the viewer toward the distant mountain and into the landscape’s quiet vastness.

While the highway serves as the visual anchor, the expansive negative space beside it conveys a sense of isolation and quiet resistance. It’s the “loneliness quotient” in full effect: The road is defined as much by what surrounds it as by what lies ahead. The surrounding wilderness, devoid of human interaction, serves as a counterpoint to the highway.

Canal Trail Bridge
Lines define the subject.

In the previous image, the leading line directed the viewer’s eyes into the photograph. In this example, the leading line of the path and fences direct the viewer to the subject, the pedestrian bridge featured in the picture. But leading lines aren’t always what lines are about in photographs. In this photo, lines also define the boundaries of the bridge. The visual perspective shortening also helps to organize the elements within. The color of the bridge floor also helps determine the bridge structure and introduces my next section, Colors in Compositional Structure.

Lilac breasted roller
Nature’s artistry

The Lilac-breasted Roller stands out thanks to its vibrant colors, particularly the striking mix of lilac and turquoise feathers, which instantly catch the eye. The soft browns and greens in the background help accentuate the roller’s vivid tones. The contrast between the warm earth tones and the cool blues and purples gives the photo a sense of depth, making the bird feel three-dimensional. It’s as if Mother Nature understands her color theory.

Pinnacles National Park
Analogous colors

Photographers often use contrasting colors, opposites on the color wheel, to make both colors appear more intense. In the photo above, however, the browns and muted greens of the landscape at Pinnacles National Park are largely analogous (close to each other on the color wheel). That brings a strong sense of harmony within the landscape. The sky introduces cool tones of grays and blues from the heavy clouds. The hint of blues and cool grays contrasts with the warmer, earthy tones of the land. The sunlight breaking through the clouds brings out the patterns and textures in the rock surfaces.

Beneath my Feet-1
Practical use of colors and patterns

I didn’t think much about the patterns or design of the carpet in the Norwegian Pearl’s cabin hallways until I discovered that the pattern serves a definite purpose. The hallway floor covering features a bold use of bright, complementary colors (blue and orange/red), combined with harmonious analogous colors (greens and light blues) to display the aquatic theme. The repetitive design has a purpose that I didn’t perceive. After several times entering the hallway from our cabin and walking the wrong way down the corridor, I commented to Lynn that, yet again, we turned the wrong way. A voice from behind me, from a man walking behind us, told me the secret. The fish on the carpet are all swimming toward the front of the ship. From that point on, we didn’t make a wrong turn out of the cabin again.

Fort Jefferson-2
Repeating pattern

Fort Jefferson, on an island in the Gulf of Mexico, was designated as Dry Tortugas National Park. The large fort has many compartments divided by arches, making them an obvious compositional tool through the receding pattern that culminates in a perceived vanishing point. Each arch acts as a frame, and its repetition creates firm leading lines that draw the eye deep into the image. This repetition emphasizes the linear perspective, making the corridor appear much longer and deeper than it might otherwise, creating a sense of depth and vastness within the structure.

St Joseph-7
Integrating lines, color, and patterns

One of the advantages of architectural photography is that the final photograph borrows the aesthetics of the architecture to enhance the picture’s composition. The designers of the staircase into the loft at St. Joseph’s Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, made it easy for me to showcase this concluding image. The curved leading lines of the elegant staircase and its ornate railing guide the viewer’s eyes upward. The flow, however, is contrasted by the repeating geometric patterns within the stained-glass windows. The rich, warm hues of the beige walls and golden stair treads are illuminated in a warm ambiance, while the cool, jewel-toned stained glass provides complementary accent lighting. Together, these elements of lines, repetition, and colors converge to bring out the designer’s grand and inviting creation.

Now it’s your turn to show us your work. Your challenge is to showcase examples of your use of lines, colors, or patterns in your compositions. Extra points will be allotted for showing examples that combine two or three of the categories of composition.

Last week, Tina’s challenge focused on how we all “Live and Learn.” Next week, Ann-Christine hosts. Be sure to follow her blog here so you don’t miss her challenge, which will be posted at noon Eastern Time on Saturday. If you’d like to submit your own responses to the Lens-Artists Challenge each week, but aren’t sure how to get started, check here.

About the photos: I’ve selected these images from my gallery, reaching back to 2013. If you are interested in the camera or lens used for any given shot, all the photos, including metadata, are posted on my Flickr site here. In the album, I’ve included some additional images that incorporate lines, colors, or patterns in their composition. All images were processed in Adobe Lightroom Classic and Luminar Neo. AI technology was used in some pictures to remove distractions.

John Steiner

143 comments

  15. Wow, John! This will definitely be one of those challenges I will have a hard time selecting only a handful of images. Fantastic examples!

    Reply

  16. Most of these photos have me wishing I was with you on your journeys. I especially love the lines that make the eyes travel. The St. Joseph’s staircase and the fort.

    Nice, might have a minute to join this one.

    Reply

    • Thanks, PR! Of course, we could have been smart using numbers, checking the progression of cabin numbers on the hallway, but sadly, that never occurred to me either. >grin<

      Reply

      • Oh, I get baffled by corridors too. Having fishes in a certain direction would work for me 😀. Funny that I used to be lost in IKEA too before a friend showed me the arrow signs shining on the floor!

  44. […] Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #359 is ‘Tools of Photo Compositions: Lines, Colors and Patterns’.The dreamy field with freshly pressed straw rolls offers a nice challenge. It is an opportunity to create something that makes sense in images. The idea that they actually roll. Near Questembert in the Morbihan region of Brittany. […]

    Reply

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