Light is the last visual element I’m looking at closely. It’s a difficult topic to say anything succinct about – often if it’s captured expertly light can leave us speechless. As a visual element, light is really what it’s all about when it comes to image-making. Highlights and shadows lead the eye, placement of light can make an image appear flat or give it depth, and a good back light is just plain pretty. Every image can be analyzed for its use of light, and every successful image comes from careful consideration and manipulation of light. So I’ll just touch on one aspect of the deployment of light in this week’s news photos.

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In my last post I began exploring the visual elements of images that influence how we feel about what we see. Our subconscious, immediate reactions may not take these specific elements into account, but image-makers are certainly conscious of employing elements like pattern, form, light, and line to give their pictures communicative power. Pattern was the focus of last week’s photo; today I’m looking at examples that utilize texture and shape.

Shape as a visual element refers to the distribution of weight in the image and where the eye is led. The effect of weight can be caused by high vs. low contrast; “bleeding”—when the content of an image extends off the page; and by the use of horizontal lines, which convey calm and gravity, and vertical lines, which convey power and stability. In this image, the light/dark contrast immediately leads the eye to the subjects in the center. The shaft of light also divides the picture geometrically and employs a single vertical line in the midst of the weightier horizontals of the wall. It’s undeniable where we’re supposed to focus in this picture, and we’re drawn in to the scene before us. Continue reading →

“The visual mind is like a small child.” This is written in some notes from a visual theory class I took several years ago. In other words, images speak to a more subconscious region in our minds—one that reacts quickly and without much rationalization. When we see a picture we like or dislike, we may not be able to articulate why, but we feel strongly, like a little kid who can’t get enough chocolate cake but throws a tantrum over brussels sprouts.

What’s funny is that what we’re reacting to in images is a whole set of visual elements that take the conscious minds of image-makers years to master. Our quick reactions are often determined by an image’s use of shape, pattern, texture, form, light, and line. And that’s before we even consider the picture’s content. Successful image-makers aren’t just depicting something they see or imagine; they’re using the visual elements available to them to make us feel a certain way. They’re sneaking carrots into our cake, so to speak, and suddenly what we instinctively like also becomes substantial.

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