What are the Visual Elements in a Photograph?

So if you're new to photography, which I sometime feel like I am still after two years, this should be the first article you read on my blog. When we look at a photograph, we can most of the time decide if we like it or not. Most of us however, rarely give a second thought to why we like or dislike something.

It's like when we dine, we can say immediately if we like certain dish or not. Yet we may not know how to create that dish or even what goes in it. So it helps to learn the basic visual elements that makes a photograph and understanding the visual elements will make your photos better.

So what are the visual elements of a photograph? They are focus, light, value, lines, shape, space, texture and repetition.

Good. That's awesome, but what are they exactly?

focus: is the area that is clearest/sharpest in the photograph. If a photograph is blurry, it is said to be out of focus.

light: is how the subject is lit. It usually concern the direction of light, high or low contrast, direct or reflected, natural or artificial and hard or soft.

value: is related to light. It is the range between the darkest dark and lightest light.

lines: Some time certain objects can create lines in a photograph. These lines can lead the eyes in the photograph and can make the piece more or less interesting. The line can be thin or thick, straight or curve and real elements or implied.

shape: no matter what we look at, our mind is trained to see shapes. So when we look at a photograph, we instinctively find familiar shapes.

space: is the area the photograph convey. Is the space shallow, or is it deep. Are there more negative or positive space?

texture: texture can add another dimension to your photograph. Whether if it's fur or rust, make your viewer imagine what the texture feels like.

repetition: sometime objects repeat and create patterns, this can also make your photograph more interesting.

So now you have an idea of what a photograph is made of, just keep these things in mind and you'll definitely take better photos! Just don't get too bogged down with the elements and have some fun as well. There's no better way to learn than doing!