If you are looking for ways to take interesting photos, try thinking about how you can make shapes.
This is helpful in two ways. Firstly it can help when you are looking at something you want to take photos of but don’t know how to make it more interesting. Have a think about how you can make shapes within that photo and it will give you a good starting potion for how to compose your photo. Secondly it can help when you are out taking photos but lacking inspiration. Try to look for shapes in ordinary things and see what you can produce.
Shapes in your photo give a geometrical structure within the photo that lets the brain more easily understand what it is looking at. This makes it more attractive because the person looking at the photo can make sense of the image. Triangles and curves work well in particular.
Here are some examples of how you can use shapes in your photos to help your composition and help you to take better and more intersting photos. Looking for shapes is a fun exercise when out taking photos.
1. Look for curves.
Curves always work well. Be prepared to take photos from low down or high up to show a different angle of view. I took this photo from the floor of an apartment building in Paris and looked up to see the spiral of the staircase.
This photo also has a curve, and it has diagonals as well. It’s a simple subject but the shapes make it work well. Notice how the whole picture is filled with the shape and the diagonals. That’s important.
2. Triangles
Triangles are also interesting to include in your photo. The three points of the triangle don’t always have to be linked by lines because the person looking at the photo will connect them together when they are looking at the image, like this photo taken looking up at the roof of Leadenhall Market:
Triangles can be created from lines in the scene, and the edge of the frame can use used as one side of the triangle. You can see several triangles in this photo formed by the jetty, the boats and the edge of the frame.
Making shapes in your photos is a great way to make them more intersting. Another idea is leading lines and frames, I wrote about that in another post.
Andrew Mason is a professional photographer and the founder of the 36exp Photographers School plus the London Photo Show.
He shoots mainly commercial portraits for a living, and likes to shoot landscape, portrait and travel photography.
He is a master of lighting and portrait photography, plus leads photography trips with 36exp.