Leading lines are one of the most effective and under-utilised compositional tools available to photographers. They’re used to draw a viewers attention to a specific part of the frame, whether it’s a person, or a vanishing point in the background of the frame. Our eyes are naturally drawn along lines and paths in photos, as they tend to make us feel as if we’re standing within the photo itself. It’s important to understand how to use leading lines effectively, because if they’re used incorrectly, they will be more detrimental than anything.
Leading Lines VS. Paths To be honest, there’s not much difference between the two. In my mind, the difference between a leading line and a path is that a leading line takes you to a point of interest in the frame, and a path tends to lead you to a vanishing point. For example, the image below contains a leading line as it draws your attention to the persons at the top of the hill:
How to Incorrectly Use Leading Lines Where are your leading lines directing you? This is the all important question that needs to be asked here. If the answer is ‘nowhere in particular’ or ‘our of the frame, avoiding the subject’, then you’re doing it wrong. The other week I was out taking photos of a local viaduct, and walking around the adjacent field, trying to find the best angle. As I made my way around the field, I noticed there were many leading lines I could use to direct my viewer’s attention to the viaduct. It was just a case of finding the right one. I eventually did find the right lines to use, but not until I had passed many others that would have only served to confuse a viewer. Here’s one in particular: