Andrew is a highly experienced writer and photographer – if you have a problem, he is here to help.
What’s my line?
Q I’ve been reading about lead-in lines for landscape composition, but it seems much harder to find them when you’re actually out with a camera. Do you always need them for a successful scenic?
Shirley Windsor
A Lead-in lines, also referred to as leading lines, are a dynamic component of composition that can be used to help draw an eye into the image. You can shoot an eye-catching image without having a single lead-in line within the frame, but if you come across natural or fabricated elements that have the capacity to point the viewer into the frame, then they are worth including.
A lead-in line can be subtle, doing no more than suggesting that you look one way, or they can be fairly bold and dramatic, like the shadow of the tree in our example image here. But it’s important that a lead-in line takes you in the right direction, in other words towards your point of interest within the scene. If they draw you in and then away from the
