Lines- Horizontal and Vertical

Part 2 Elements of Design
Project: Lines
Exercise 1


Aim: To take 4 pictures with horizontal lines and four of vertical lines.
          Take care not to repeat the same subject for different lines.

Before I started this exercise, I had thought it would be easy to pick out either vertical or horizontal lines in a picture. When I started though it became harder than I imagined to make the distinction between horizontal or vertical. What could be a horizontal line, could just as easily become a vertical line when portrayed at a different angle. For example, I was taking pictures of the road outside my house, intended as a horizontal line, but when I took it from the centre of the road at a high viewpoint, it became vertical. This ambiguity between the angle of the lines, based on how you look at it was both a blessing and a curse. In some ways it made things easier, if I needed a horizontal or vertical line to complete the exercise, I could turn whatever object/scene was being photographed into either, making it easier to get the pictures for both sets. I had wanted to make sure the pictures I used clearly reflected whichever line I had gone for-horizontal or vertical- but as some subjects could be portrayed as either, it became too unclear which I was showing.
1.

2.

I was going to use a road for horizontal but by standing in the middle, the lines were emphasized in a vertical way.

3.

4.

Although there are both horizontal and vertical lines in the picture, the vertical line is much stronger and the thin horizontal lines help to draw the viewers eye to the main point/line.

1.

Probably the most obvious, but the horizon is a very strong horizontal line. The vertical lines in the field below  draws you eye to the horizon and also emphasises the line.

2.

These wooden panels in a fence make nice horizontal lines which are mirrored by the also horizontal grain in the wood.
3.

Horizontal lines in the grill on a car.

4.

Pencils arranged so they form horizontal lines across the frame.

In conclusion, I found this exercise encouraged me to look more for the lines in the picture than the actual subject. Also, I found it interesting that I found vertical lines easier to find than horizontal.