Elements of Art
What are the Elements of Art?
The Elements of Art are like the architecture of a building. The elements help build an interesting composition.
Elements of Art
in Photography
Point
Burning Candle, Natalie Rose
Where is the
point in this photo?
How do we know?
Burning Candle, Natalie Rose
The glowing tip of the candle wick.
The contrast between the dark wick and bright flame
Line
Strings, Taylor Dahl, 2011
What kind of lines are shown in this photo?
Strings, Taylor Dahl, 2011
Lines are straight, of various widths, and change in value from beige to brown.
Lonely Spftball, Maddie Addington, 2019
What kind of lines are shown in this photo?
Lonely Spftball, Maddie Addington, 2019
Straight and curved
Line
Add Image here...
Where are the discrete and implied lines?
Urban Ramp, Mitchell Mylius, 2011
The discrete lines are the railings
The implied lines is the graffitti
Shape / Form
Pine Cone, Allie Christensen, 2019
Is this shape
organic or geometric?
Pine Cone, Allie Christensen, 2019
The pine cone is organic even though it’s repetitive shapes give it a geometric appearance.
Around the Bend, Mitchell Mylius, 2011
What geometric shapes can be seen?
Around the Bend, Mitchell Mylius, 2011
Triangles, diamonds, squares, rectangles and many more.
Texture
Corny Lane, Lindsey Philips, 2019
How many different types of texture can you see?
Corny Lane, Lindsey Philips, 2019
Rough cement
Prickly leaves
Bumpy pine cone
Smooth acorn
Gourmet Pancakes, Allie Christensen, 2019
How many different types of texture can you see?
Gourmet Pancakes, Allie Christensen, 2019
Smooth glass
Soft napkin
Wet strawberries Squishy pancakes
Powdery sugar
Color - definitions
The Color Wheel - Primary, Secondary & Tertiary colors
Primary colors: Red, Blue, & Yellow
Secondary colors: Orange, Green & Violet
Tertiary colors: Yellow-Orange, Yellow-Green, Blue-Green, Blue-Violet, Red-Violet, Red-Orange
The Color Wheel - Primary, Secondary & Tertiary colors
Color - terms
Complimentary colors
Golden Gate Bridge, Emily Bell, 2018
What complimentary hues are present in this photo?
Golden gate Bridge, Emily Bell, 2018
Orange in the bridge and blues in the water and the sky.
Analogous colors
A Little Rusty, Katherine Terry, 2018
What analogous hues are present in this photo?
A Little Rusty, Katherine Terry, 2018
Yellow, orange, red and brown
Color - families
Cool colors
Warm colors
Color - families
Taylor’s Purple Eye, Gabe Emfinger, 2018
What hue is used for this monochromatic color scheme?
Where are the tints and shades?
Taylor’s Purple Eye, Gabe Emfinger, 2018
Sepia or brown is the hue.
The tints are on the highlights of her skin.
The shades are on her hair.
Color - in use
Color - in use
Morning Dew, Hayley Thompson, 2018
To print this digitally, it uses equal portions of cyan, magenta, & yellow mixed with black to create the different values of gray seen here.
Value / Tone
Fence Post, Jonathan Biehl, 2011
What extreme values are present in this photo?
Fence Post, Jonathan Biehl, 2011
Black for shadows and white for highlights.
Morning Walk, Deb Bailey, 2010
What hue is present in this photo?
What causes the different values of that hue?
Morning Walk, Deb Bailey, 2010
Green is the hue
Sunlight gives the highlights and shadows.
Quiet Start, Razia Sadiq, 2011
What hue is present in this photo?
Where are the tints and shades?
Quiet Start, Razia Sadiq, 2011
Blue-Violet
The tints are on the edges of the petals and the shades are in the interior.
Space
Space -
Negative & Positive
Alcatraz,
Uzair Mohammad, 2011
Where is the positive and negative space?
Alcatraz,
Uzair Mohammad, 2011
The sky, city & water are negative space.
Alcatraz is positive space.
Josh, Ashley Hagerstrand, 2011
Where are the positive and negative space?
Josh, Ashley Hagerstrand, 2011
The positive space is Josh’s face and hair.
The negative space is his jacket and the shadows.
Space - in use
Japanese Tea Garden, Deb Bailey, 2010
What kind of space can be seen?
Japanese Tea Garden, Deb Bailey, 2010
Linear Perspective
The trees, posts and the width of the path get smaller in the distance.
Hume Lake, Lizzy Schwegler, 2017
What kind of space can be seen?
Hume Lake, Lizzy Schwegler, 2017
Aerial perspective
The mountains get lighter and blurrier in the distance.
Origami Cranes, Brian Byun, 2012
What kind of space can be seen?
Origami Cranes, Brian Byun, 2012
The cranes show overlapping space.
San Francisco, Brian Byun, 2010
How many types of perspective can you see?
San Francisco, Brian Byun, 2010
All three types are present. Frequently, more than one will be present in a photo.
Plane / Layer
Around the Bend, Mitchell Mylius, 2011
How many planes can you see in this photo?
Around the Bend, Mitchell Mylius, 2011
You could propose 5 planes or layers.
Plane / Layer - in use
Friends Hug, Lexi Borgna, 2019
What are the foreground, midground and background elements for this photo?
Friends Hug, Lexi Borgna, 2019
The foreground is the cattle chute.
The midground are the friends, and road.
The background are the hills and trees.
Lemonade, Tizuc Vera, 2019
What are the foreground, midground and background elements for this photo?
Lemonade, Tizuc Vera, 2019
Foreground: Cup & hand
Midground: Girl & glasses
Background:
Sign & wall
Elements of Art
in Photography