Clackers' Beginners' Tip 62: Leading Lines on Location for Portraits

**clackers** · 02-23-2023, 03:42 PM - **11 Likes**

Good morning, all. It's a strange world.

I was at my uncle's funeral, and a man asked my aunt: "Mind if I say a word?"

She said: "Please do."

The man cleared his throat and said: "Plethora."

The widow replied: "Thanks, that means a lot."

Back home there was trouble when my wife found out I'd replaced our bed with a trampoline.

She hit the roof.

This week, I want to talk about leading lines in portraiture.

On location, it's on us as photographers to look around on a location for the best light, for symmetry, and leading lines.

By moving around, we can create these conditions for our subjects to be positioned, such as the converging lines of both her arm and the structures in the one below on the rooftop of a carpark with the last light from the setting winter sun. My K-1 had the DA*55 fitted in full frame mode.

To have shot this only head-on from the front like some passport photo would've been a missed opportunity.

To finish with, there's the story of the woman who meets a man in a bar.

They talk; they connect; they end up leaving together.

She's really worried he might be a 'player', trivializing relationships and treating sex merely as a game.

But when they get back to his place, she notices that one wall of his bedroom is completely filled with teddy bears.

There are three shelves in the bedroom, with tons of teddy bears carefully placed in rows, covering the entire wall. There were small bears all along the bottom shelf, medium-sized bears covering the middle shelf, and huge bears along the top shelf.

She is quite impressed by his sensitive side, but doesn't mention this to him. She turns to him and kisses him lightly on the lips. The passion builds, and he lifts her in his arms and carries her into his bedroom where they make hot, steamy love.

After an intense night of raw passion with this sensitive guy, they are lying there together in the afterglow. The woman rolls over, and asks coyly, "How was it?"

The guy smiles at her and says: "Help yourself to any prize from the middle shelf."

Find the rest of the series here: Clackers' Beginners Tips (Collected) - PentaxForums.com

MarkJerling · 02-23-2023, 06:59 PM - **1 Like**

Nice shot Ian. Although, I now have coffee everywhere due to the teddy bear joke. LOL

**TedH42** · 02-24-2023, 09:29 AM - **1 Like**

Every time I look at this image, I keep slamming into her eyes.

**clackers** · 02-25-2023, 02:54 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by TedH42

Every time I look at this image, I keep slamming into her eyes.

Yeah, geometry's real powerful, right?

Urban environments are full of straight lines, nature's full of curved ones, we can take advantage as photographers to line them up with our subjects!

The corollary is, if there are prominent lines in our pictures, there better be something at the end of them worth our viewers looking at.

If not, we have to recompose or reconsider our idea for the shot.

The coward's way is to shoot at f1.4 to blur it all out.

I do it all the time, myself!

**ehrwien** · 02-25-2023, 03:16 PM - **1 Like**

What about letting leading lines cut right through your subject's head though? Isn't that supposed to be bad practice?

**clackers** · 02-26-2023, 04:21 PM - **2 Likes**

Originally posted by ehrwien

What about letting leading lines cut right through your subject's head though? Isn't that supposed to be bad practice?

The advantage of a line going right through is that it leads your eyes to the head from both directions.

That's a plus.

What you're looking to avoid is the tree or light pole looking like it's growing out of someone's head. Yeah, that's not a leading line at all, it's a distraction.

You can see in my picture above that the converging fence line and buildings *do* carry on past the subject.

They aren't in focus, but it wouldn't have bothered me if they were. The rule of thirds principle used for composition here means you know straight away they're not the subject, the person is.

What if you know the lines in the location you're at are distracting rather than reinforcing as in the above example?

Then we need to look around for negative space to put our subject in, which will be a future Beginners Tip!

02-23-2023, 03:42 PM - 11 Likes	#1
clackers Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Melbourne Photos: Albums Posts: 16,397	Clackers' Beginners' Tip 62: Leading Lines on Location for Portraits Good morning, all. It's a strange world. I was at my uncle's funeral, and a man asked my aunt: "Mind if I say a word?" She said: "Please do." The man cleared his throat and said: "Plethora." The widow replied: "Thanks, that means a lot." Back home there was trouble when my wife found out I'd replaced our bed with a trampoline. She hit the roof. This week, I want to talk about leading lines in portraiture. On location, it's on us as photographers to look around on a location for the best light, for symmetry, and leading lines. By moving around, we can create these conditions for our subjects to be positioned, such as the converging lines of both her arm and the structures in the one below on the rooftop of a carpark with the last light from the setting winter sun. My K-1 had the DA*55 fitted in full frame mode. To have shot this only head-on from the front like some passport photo would've been a missed opportunity. To finish with, there's the story of the woman who meets a man in a bar. They talk; they connect; they end up leaving together. She's really worried he might be a 'player', trivializing relationships and treating sex merely as a game. But when they get back to his place, she notices that one wall of his bedroom is completely filled with teddy bears. There are three shelves in the bedroom, with tons of teddy bears carefully placed in rows, covering the entire wall. There were small bears all along the bottom shelf, medium-sized bears covering the middle shelf, and huge bears along the top shelf. She is quite impressed by his sensitive side, but doesn't mention this to him. She turns to him and kisses him lightly on the lips. The passion builds, and he lifts her in his arms and carries her into his bedroom where they make hot, steamy love. After an intense night of raw passion with this sensitive guy, they are lying there together in the afterglow. The woman rolls over, and asks coyly, "How was it?" The guy smiles at her and says: "Help yourself to any prize from the middle shelf." Find the rest of the series here: Clackers' Beginners Tips (Collected) - PentaxForums.com

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02-23-2023, 06:59 PM - 1 Like	#2
MarkJerling Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: May 2012 Location: Wairarapa, New Zealand Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 20,423	Nice shot Ian. Although, I now have coffee everywhere due to the teddy bear joke. LOL

02-24-2023, 09:29 AM - 1 Like	#3
TedH42 F/8 & Somewhere Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Colorado Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,412	Every time I look at this image, I keep slamming into her eyes.

02-25-2023, 02:54 PM - 1 Like	#4
clackers Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Melbourne Photos: Albums Posts: 16,397 Original Poster	Originally posted by TedH42 Every time I look at this image, I keep slamming into her eyes. Yeah, geometry's real powerful, right? Urban environments are full of straight lines, nature's full of curved ones, we can take advantage as photographers to line them up with our subjects! The corollary is, if there are prominent lines in our pictures, there better be something at the end of them worth our viewers looking at. If not, we have to recompose or reconsider our idea for the shot. The coward's way is to shoot at f1.4 to blur it all out. I do it all the time, myself!

02-25-2023, 03:16 PM - 1 Like	#5
ehrwien Site Supporter Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 2,784	What about letting leading lines cut right through your subject's head though? Isn't that supposed to be bad practice?

02-26-2023, 04:21 PM - 2 Likes	#6
clackers Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Melbourne Photos: Albums Posts: 16,397 Original Poster	Originally posted by ehrwien What about letting leading lines cut right through your subject's head though? Isn't that supposed to be bad practice? The advantage of a line going right through is that it leads your eyes to the head from both directions. That's a plus. What you're looking to avoid is the tree or light pole looking like it's growing out of someone's head. Yeah, that's not a leading line at all, it's a distraction. You can see in my picture above that the converging fence line and buildings do carry on past the subject. They aren't in focus, but it wouldn't have bothered me if they were. The rule of thirds principle used for composition here means you know straight away they're not the subject, the person is. What if you know the lines in the location you're at are distracting rather than reinforcing as in the above example? Then we need to look around for negative space to put our subject in, which will be a future Beginners Tip!