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Essential Elements of Photography


 
 
I am doing a research paper on the three essential elements of photography. Can you tell me how shape, tone, and color affect a photo. Also how pattern, texture, and form affect a photo. If you have an Web sites that might be helpful that would be great also. Thanks!


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June 17, 2004

 

Damian P. Gadal
  I think the most important element is composition above/before anything else...


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June 18, 2004

 
- Bob Cournoyer

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  And let there be ..... LIGHT ....

Bob


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June 19, 2004

 

Damian P. Gadal
  It seems what you're after are the elements of design: shape, form texture, colour, line and pattern, and their effective use. How you incorporate them in an image and what they are intended to evoke from the viewer. There's much debate as to which is the most important element, but I would argue that line is the most important. Take drawing, for example, without line there is nothing. So the question becomes how is line used and what emotional weight do they bring to the image?


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June 19, 2004

 

Damian P. Gadal
  Nature is filled with lines, such as curvilinear lines we see in rivers, leaves, sand dunes, hills, rocks, and plants. ... They don't evoke emotions of harshness, but rather seem to be almost soothing. Whereas jagged a mountaintop, twisted trees, or faultlines have the opposite effect. Why?


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June 19, 2004

 

Damian P. Gadal
  The same can be said about shape, some are soothing, some are harsh - and I'd suggest they are this way for the same reason - some being what the viewer brings to the table (our personal experiences).

And colour: some are soothing, some are harsh and not pleasant to look at for long periods to time. Some advance, some recede. Some complement, while others contrast. Most of all, they evoke emotional responses and bring emotional content to the image.


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June 19, 2004

 

Damian P. Gadal
  Form and texture? Same thing. Does it look soft or harsh, what does it feel like in your mind? Use all of them or some of them, in any given image in a manner that conveys something to your viewer, that gets them involved or emotionally invested, if even for a moment - then perhaps you've done your job.


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June 19, 2004

 

John A. Lind
  Three essential elements? Must be a variation on the theme of "formal elements." Do a google search for "formal elements" a related to the visual arts and see what turns up in detail.

I disagree with Damian that form and texture are the same . . . they're not the same in visual effect. A common chicken egg has form . . . its overall ovaloid shape . . . *and* texture . . . the slightly rough surface of the shell. Shape has the visual effect of how much strength or rigidity is expressed and texture has the effect of how much harshness, coarseness, or softness is expressed. That said, the two related and they often work together closely (or possibly create conflict).

Shape often pulls the eye to one part of a photograph or another. They also can give a sense of depth and dimension. The type of shape can create a feeling of strength/rigidity/stability (strong straight lines and sharp angles), or pliability/flexibility/malleability (curves). To me, it's the difference between whether the environment must conform to it, or whether it seems to be able to conform and adapt to it's environment. Shapes in visually pleasing arrangements are balanced. Sometimes symmetrically . . . equal mass . . . sometimes asymmetrically . . . deliberately imabalanced and sometimes in an opposing tension or conflict.

Pattern is a repetition of shape and tends to amplify the effect of the basic shape used to create the pattern. If done reasonably well, it can be very visually pleasing (interesting) in its own right.

Tone, if I understand how you've used the term correctly, is often called "value" . . . lightness versus darkness. Darker colors tend to feel heavy and lighter colors tend to feel lighter light; they can convey a feeling of mass (shape can modify this).

Bright, bold colors tend to move forward, catching the eye first, particularly reds and yellows. They are the "warm" colors and can exude energy or motion too. Earth tones and muted colors, particularly blues and blue tints added to most other colors, tend to recede, and blue/bluish colors are "cool" that exude calm, sometimes lethargy. Earth tones tend to be muted also creating a feeling of lack of motion and stability.

None of these things are independent of the others. It's possible to overwhelm the effect of one with a "dogpile" of the others pushing the visual effects in the opposite direction.

My understanding of "formal elements" improved considerably by studying "abstracts" which are really a study of one or more of the formal elements: shape, texture, value, color, space, etc., and how they're arranged . . . in purer form . . . without the distraction of evoking recognition of something.

These are my reactions to the formal elements . . . among the most difficult tasks is determining how they make you *feel* . . . the raw emotional response you get from them visually, both individually and in various combinations.

-- John Lind


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June 22, 2004

 

Damian P. Gadal
  Thanks - I guess I wasn't clear on form and texture. I meant that like other graphic elements they can evoke emotional responses, not that they functioned in the same fashion.


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June 22, 2004

 
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