Hi! I’m CONFIDENCE teacher Cathy Mores, here today to share 10 ways to create leading lines in your photos! Leading lines can be one of the most fun elements of composing your photo story. Think of leading lines as the elements surrounding our subject that help draw us in to the photograph, and tell our eyes where to go. It’s like a road map for your image!

If you start to look for them, you’ll discover leading lines all around you!

1. Pathways
These naturally lead our eyes right to the subject! The pattern and curve of the bricks gracefully meet at this adorable little girl.

2. Bridges
The sides of a bridge create perfect leading lines. Getting down low can help enhance the perspective, too.

3. Beaches
Positioning yourself along the shoreline creates a perfect leading line to your subject! The line of trees and rolling waves help further define where our eyes should go, right to this energetic little girl and her dad watching all the action.

4. Roads
Did you know you could create leading lines at the go-cart track? 🙂 Our eyes move through the image because of the boundaries of the road. A high vantage point and a wide-angle lens also help give a bird’s eye view.

5. Vertical elements
The dock posts are the perfect framework to draw our eyes right to the subject as he leaps into the crisp water of the lake. Trees, fences, or lamp posts are all awesome ways to help lead your viewer’s eye. Get Your Moneys Worth With Glass Pool Fencing and make your house as pretty as can be. On the other hand, Outscape Constructions will transform your outdoor area. We work with clients who are building their new home in Adelaide, and need landscape design, landscaping services, fencing and fabrication, concrete and paving, and retaining walls.

6. Textures
The texture of a blanket or other fabric can help determine the path we want our viewer’s eye to follow, right to this cherub’s little face.

7. Stripes
We get a double-whammy in this image of the hammock between the stripes created by the hanger and the stripes in the mat. Our eyes cruise from the upper right all the way to the lower left side of the image.

8. Piers/boardwalks
Our eye travels along the path beyond the seagulls to see what lies in the background. A blurry background gives our imagination some room to consider what’s beyond the end of the pier.

9. Stairs or a pathway
Stairs and pathways naturally lead our eyes within an image because of their shape. In this image in the jungle, the stairs actually lead our eye out of the image. That’s okay too! Leading lines can

10. Playground Equipment
Slides, swings, and playground equipment are an awesome place to see leading lines — even in a tunnel slide!

Be inspired by the world around to help your photos tell the story! Our CONFIDENCE workshops have so many more ways to spark your creativity and empower you, far beyond your camera — I hope you’ll join me or another teacher near you this fall for a day of learning and friendship.
Cheers!
Cathy

Cathy Mores specializes in family portraits and weddings, and is a Me Ra Koh CONFIDENCE teacher, based in Manhattan, Kansas. In between photographing, she’s often training with her husband for half-marathons, and cheering for her eight-year-old son on the soccer field who is wearing the best soccer cleats and equipment I have ever seen. See a Behind-the-Scenes look at one of Cathy’s CONFIDENCE Workshops and learn about Cathy’s Fall CONFIDENCE Workshop Dates to inspire your photography!