Shapes as the building block in visual design for photography. This continues from my original posting on the book Photographing the world around you.
Texture is the visual building block that photographers are most likely to neglect in creating their compositions. Texture in the surface of your subject could be the threads in a woven material, movement or water or the roughness in the bark of a tree. On a larger scale it could patterns created over a landscape such as red poppies in a field of wheat.
Texture may have a pattern such as in a woven material or ripples in a pond as well as how rough or smooth a surface is.
Using these characteristics can be great for creating images that have contrast such as rough and smooth when two materials are placed next to each other in juxtaposition. They could be next to each other naturally placed next to each other, for example pebbles on the beach. An objects texture can be used to create abstracts especially if you have a macro lens and can really get in close to your subject to explore this micro-world.
Light is a critical factor in using texture in your visual designs. If the light is directly above the surface it’s texture could disappear completely. This is because how the texture appears visually is determined by the light passing across the surface creating areas of light and shade. If you imagine going to the beach for a moment an walking along the waters edge you will notices all the ripples created in the sand by the tide of the sea. Photographed soon after sun rise or just around sunset these can appear as dramatic landscapes or simply multiple lines passing through your image. However if you go to the beach midday these lines will be virtually invisible as there will be a lack of contrast between the light and the shade.
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