Line

Line
Definition and Theory 

• A line represents a "path" between two points.
• A line can be straight, curved, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or zigzag.
• Lines imply motion and suggest direction or orientation.
• A line can also be implied and is then filled in by the mind when several points are positioned geometrically within a frame.

• Horizontal lines imply tranquility, peace and harmony.
• Vertical lines imply power and strength.
• Diagonal lines imply movement, action and change.
• Curved lines imply quiet, calm and sensual feelings.
• Lines that converge imply depth, scale and distance - a fence or a roadway converges into the distance provides the illusion that a flat two-dimensional depth.

For example, these images below help support the theory above:

These photos relate to the title "Line" because they all have leading lines which gives an illusion that the photo is going to take us somewhere. Furthermore, these photos show a different type of line and how they can all create a different effect of the human eye (such follow the line or make a dizziness sensation). Overall, these photos show how lines can make a big impact on the image and they give me a starting point on how I am going to produce my own pictures of lines.


Research 
      (of artists and techniques)

A photographer that I researched was Ansel Adams, he was an American Landscape Photographer (1902 - 1984). His work was in black and white and of the American West.

Within this image, Ansel Adams has photographed a river weaving through the trees which is leading away from the mountains in the background. Furthermore, his photograph is in black and white which makes it slightly more suspicious. The river travelling through the image is like a snake, which implies how nature is beautiful but mysterious in many ways. Overall, the picture look very dark and foreboding but the river shines due to the light reflecting off of it which suggests how nature can easily stand out even in the darkest of times. The leading line of the river gives a depth to the image and makes the overall atmosphere calming. 

In this image, Ansel Adams has taken a photo of a large waterfall. He has used foreground to help create an illusion to the human eye that the image is going to lead up to something. The rocks create depth to the photo because it adds a rough texture compared to the smooth. Additionally, the waterfall emphasises how nature is calm and peaceful because of the smooth lines the water has created. However, the sharp rocks makes the photo unbalanced which could represent how nature is very powerful and there could be an unbalance force. 

In this image, Ansel Adams has taken a photo of a group of trees in the forest. He has taken the photo from a lower angel to make the trees seem more dominant and powerful. Additionally, the theory of line photography helps emphasise how this is a powerful image because of the strong, bold lines. Adams has converted this image into black and white to help emphasise these lines and make the human eye more attracted to it. This photo could present how nature is powerful and can take control very easily. This photo makes the forest appear to be more eerie and dangerous because the dark tones in the background brings a sense of foreboding.

I like Ansel Adams work because his photos has a lot of depth and power. Also, his images shows a lot of tone which creates a sense of harmony and peace between the lighter and darker areas. The two leading lines in some of his images creates an illusion that it is leading up to something. Furthermore, I like how the background and main focus are in different tones because it makes the main features stand out even more. Additionally, his photos are mainly of nature and I like how the black and white images looks peaceful and welcoming. All of his photos creates a relaxation feeling because he has used lines to make it feel like you're on a journey. Additionally, the black and white help portray the dark and light tones to make the image seem calm and peaceful. 

I have taken inspiration from his style of photography by taking an image that looks peaceful and manipulate it so it becomes black and white to emphasise the tone. 


Image bank


The following images were added as part of my visual research.

The collection of images above represents some of the type of pictures I felt that I could of captured in Harlow. They all represent a variety of lines, which I could try to replicate in my own style and crop it to make it look more abstract. I decided to choose these photos because it helped give me ideas for what type of photos i could of taken in Harlow, near the college. Furthermore, these photos also inspire me to zoom into one spot to help emphasise they key area (in this case it is lines).




 (AO:1.  You must ensure that several of the visual ideas/inspirations within the image bank are pursued. )

Selected Images

              Contact sheet(s)

My Best Images

I choose these next images as my best photos.

I included this in my best images because I like how the leading lines coming from the bollards leads the eye through and out of the picture. Also, I like how I've positioned the closest bollard in the centre of the image. In this image I have demonstrated curves which gives a the picture a calm and soothing feeling and is emphasised by the green. I like the contrast of the green from the leaves and the grey from the road. This almost gives a hidden meaning of nature verses man. 

I like how the corner of the wall is going straight down the middle to give the image a nice symmetrical look. Also, I like the lines are leading away from the centre of the photo which causes the eye to be dragged through the photo and off to the sides. The vertical and horizontal lines causes the photo to seem powerful and strong, but at the same time seem at peace and harmony. 

I like how this photo demonstrates multiple different types of lines to make it seem more interesting to look at. The strong contrast of the black and white makes the lines seem even more bold and stand out even further. Also, the lines in this photo are symmetrical which gives off a more pleasing and soothing appearance. Additionally, I like how all of the different lines all end up meeting at the same point in the middle, it could demonstrate the way of life, we all have our own paths which we follow but all eventually meet at the same point during our lives. 

I like how he corner of the bench is causing a leading line though the picture causing the eye to travel with it. Furthermore, I like how the the light is hitting the edge of the bench which helps emphasise the leading line through the image. 

I chose these as my best images because I like it how it clearly demonstrates lines. Furthermore, I like how each photo demonstrates a different style of line to help show a variety. Additionally, I like how the lines within my photos stand out clearly, to emphasise how I understand the topic well. 

Ansel Adams helped inspire me to take these photos because he uses leading lines a lot in his work and I wanted to try that in my own. My first image was inspired by Ansel Adams because I used the white bollards as a leading line off into the distance to create an illusion as if the pathway was leading off to somewhere. 

Images that requires improvement

I do not like this photo because it looks very plain and boring due to only being one colour and there are no other interesting elements within the photo.

I do not like this photo because it is not equally distributed therefore, makes the photo unbalanced and not pleasing to the eye.

This photo is off centre making the photo seem slightly weird and off, to improve this for next time, I will make sure I will take more time into lining up my photo correctly to take a picture.

I selected these images because they were not centred properly, therefore, it does not look visually pleasing. Also, the images itself looks very plain and boring, which means it has no depth/ deeper meaning. If I was able to retake these photos, I would spend more making sure all of my images were centred properly or use the rule of thirds. To make my first photo more interesting, I would go back to see if anything was on the wall to help break up the photo a bit more. Additionally, to improve my second photo, I would make sure the image was centred properly because it would make the whole photo more balanced and visually pleasing to the human eye.



AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for recording line was to photograph the urban landscape of Harlow and explore different lines, such as vertical, horizontal, curves, diagonals and leading lines. My researcher was Ansel Adams which inspired to take pictures of objects with leading lines. Most of my images came out as I expected it to but I need to be careful on how I centre things and I have to be aware of the natural lighting.

The image of the white bollards showed a curved line creating an illusion of a pathway heading away from the camera. This links to my artist researcher (Ansel Adams) because he used curved lines a lot to create a pathway through the photo to make it look more abstract. Later in photoshop, I will manipulate my photo to black and white to make the contrast stand out even further, like it does in Ansel Adams work.

The image of the skylight was inspired by Ansel Adams because it had a main focus point and has lines lading away from it. However, Adams contrast between the darker a lighter tones are more subtle than my image, therefore, I should concentrate on objects with more variety of tone.



AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

However, I was unable to manipulate the settings on my camera because I was using my phone instead of a professional camera. Therefore, I could not get the best quality photo I could of if I had my camera on me. However, I took these photos around midday so I had to work with natural lighting because I was unable to change anything about it.



Manipulating my images

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

The artist I researched was Ansel Adams. He helped me produce many ideas for my composition. He created an illusion using lines to make a path going through the photo, therefore I used this idea/ theme and produced my version. I went out into the town centre of Harlow and I tried to find objects that created a path using lines. However, Ansel Adams takes most of his photos by a park or within nature, but I was not near an area which had a lot of trees where I could take photos, such as a park or a forest.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

My intentions of my images were to create an illusion that there was a path leading up to something using lines; I tried to create this because it makes the human eye follow the line through my image to see what it leads to. However, to make them more personal to me, I decided to change them into black and white to help emphasise the dark and lighter tones which will help feature the lines more clearly.

I decided to manipulate my images by changing them into black and white (like my research artist Ansel Adams). This helped me to improve my images because it added more depth and tone. Furthermore, the black and white images helps the line stand out and emphasise the deeper meaning behind it. Additionally, I like how the leading lines in my photos stands out even more in black and white because the contrast is more obvious. However, to improve my photoshop edits, I will emphasise the darker areas to help show a strong contrast between the dark and lighter areas.