My 15-year-old son, Jonathan, has shown a strong interest in photography for a few years now, so for Christmas my wife and I got him a camera. He just began a high school photography class this semester. Jon told me that one of the first lessons was on composition, including leading lines.

A couple days ago, Jon and I were walking down a dirt road out in the desert with our cameras, so I took the opportunity to talk with him about leading lines. I told him that lines are great for taking the viewer on a journey through the picture. Lines that come from the corners (or near the corners) tend to lead into the frame, while lines that are from the edges (top-middle, bottom-middle, left-middle or right-middle) tend to lead the viewer’s eyes out of the frame. Leading lines are great, but they must lead to something to be effective; leading lines that lead to nothing are disappointing and boring.

I pointed out the road that we were walking on, showing that the sides of the road, or even the tire tracks in the dirt, are lines. They can be used to take the viewer from the bottom corners into the middle of the frame somewhere. But you have to think about what the viewers are going to find when they get to the end, as there should be something for them to discover.

In the Desert Road image above, the lines take the viewer from the bottom of the frame to the base of the darker mountain in the middle-left of the picture, then up the ridge of the closer hill towards the top-right; your eyes might follow the ridge of the distant hill to the left, or they might leave the frame altogether. It would have been more interesting if a hiker, bicyclist, car, coyote, etc., were at the end of the road just before it disappears around the corner. Or a brightly lit saguaro partway up the closer ridge contrasted with the shadow behind. The image itself is ok, but if the viewer had found a surprise element on their journey through the picture, it would have been much more compelling.

As we were heading back to the car to go home because the sun had dipped below the ridge, we came across a row of drainage pipes that I suppose will someday serve a purpose. I told him that those could be used as leading lines, too. I noted that there was a dark spot in the road at the end of the pipes, and told him that if only there was something there in that spot, it could make for an interesting picture.

We hadn’t seen another person the entire time, so I didn’t expect anything interesting to happen, but then two bicyclists showed up. I told Jon to wait, that this was a fortuitous opportunity, and be ready to compose his picture. We waved to the two men as they pedaled by, then we set up our shots.

My picture is Bicycles on a Dirt Road at the very top, and Jon’s is Sunset Bicyclists two images above. I used the pipes to take the viewer from the bottom-right to the bicyclists at the middle-left. Jon used the lines in the dirt road to lead to the bicyclists, and the pipes served as a secondary element. Even though we photographed the same thing at the same time while standing next to each other, our pictures are much different. Two photographers will rarely see the same scene exactly the same way, because each person has different experiences, emotions, perspectives, etc., to form and execute their visions.

There are a several quick takeaways from this article. First, look for and use lines to thoughtfully direct viewers through your photographs, and try to give them a little surprise if you can. Second, your photographs are your unique voice, and as such are meaningful and important; however, you want to communicate your voice as strongly as possible with each shutter click—it takes much practice to develop strong photographic communication. Next, good pictures often involve some level of luck, but you can greatly increase your chances by being out with your camera—luck has a way of finding you if you give it the opportunity. Finally, if you are a straight-out-of-camera photographer, choose the most appropriate Film Simulation Recipe for how you want the scene to look. It takes some level of experience (oftentimes, trial-and-error) to figure that out, and each person has their own tastes and styles, so what works for one might not for another. I chose Velvia Film (one of the Film Dial Recipes… I use this approach even without the dial) because I wanted a bright and vibrant picture; Jon chose Kodak Negative because he wanted a warm retro aesthetic.