Discussion - Visual Elements

Visual elements are an important part of photography as they make up everything we see. It is the job of the photographer to represent the real world through photographs. As our visual world is not labelled, the different aspects of the visual world are divided into these elements and photography can be used to represent each of these elements in different photos and explain the way that we see the world by highlighting different aspects of how we see. These photos show the viewers the way that we see different things.

There are 10 Visual Elements;

• Line
• Movement/Blurring
• Colour
• Pattern
• Depth
• Shape
• Form
• Tone
• Texture
• Reflection

Lines are bands or widths, such as guitar strings and differnt plants or trees. Lines can make up a huge number of different things and can be seen in the real world and photography all of the time.

Blurring cannot be seen by the human eye as movement can. In photography things are blurred to show that they are moving as photographs are a picture of only a moment. In photography an onbect or background can be used to show that something in the phooto is moving.


















Colour is used in photography as it is in the visual world; most objects have a colour of some kind, dull colours are often used to represent dull or negative feelings, while bright, vibrant colours can be used to represent life and excitement or creation.



















Pattern can also be seen in everyday life as the construction of absoloutely everything. There  is pattern in all natural and man-made structures that make up beings or buildings, though when people think of pattern it is usually of a camouflage or repeated decoration, it can be pictured in photography as many different things.
















Depth is often shown in photography through converging parallels. This narrowing of lines or of an object show that there is a third dimensional nature of the image. It can be seen on many objects such as railway tracks, long roads and bridges.

Shape in photography refers to the the outline of the object. It is often represented by a shadow or silhouette of an object. Shape is seen everywhere but is most easily recognised in shadows and silhouettes as they show nothing more than the defined shape of something without any features.

The tone of something refers to its lightness or darkness of its colour. In other words, the shade of an area of an image. Everything has a tone, and the tone of colours that are completely contrasting can be identical. Images that represent tone are usually set to a greyscale (black and white) or a duotone. This removes the colour of the image and the only difference in shade is the tone.