While preparing our teaching project for the upcoming Design4Kids workshop in Honduras – just a month away now – the concept of design elements came up. While most of the kids there have already been introduced to the basics, we realized that it would be quite valuable to review them and demonstrate how universal these elements are in all design and art – both two- and three-dimensional.
An experienced photographer has likely internalized the concepts of line, shape, form, color and tone and while we may not consciously focus on them when crafting our image, you’re constantly aware of them at a subconscious level. Reviewing them from time to time is valuable to refresh your conscious awareness and to stimulate your creative thought process.
If you’re new to photography realize that these essential elements of design are the building blocks you use to create dynamic, compelling photographs.
Let’s take them individually, and the best way to become completely comfortable with these ideas is to practice them by focusing on using them in your photos.
A single Point is the most elemental design component. Not often found in photographing the real world, we’ll talk a bit more about point in future discussions on Shape.
As soon as you introduce two or more points, you create a Line, and this is by far the most common and basic element we encounter in designing photographs.
Lines can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, straight or curved. And they can be an actual line, such as a horizon, the edge of a wall or table, or implied lines such as the placement of two objects and the way the eye is drawn from one to the other.
Horizontal and vertical lines tend to create a sense of stability, of foundation and strength. Diagonal lines are much more dynamic, creating a sense of movement ant drawing your viewer’s eye through your photo and to your subject.
Converging diagonals give a visual impression of depth and of being present in the image. They reinforce the sense of scale you have in the real world, where objects closer to you appear larger than those farther away.
And curving lines give a feeling of motion and a graceful path through your picture.
Paying attention to lines and how they affect your viewer’s interest in your photo causes a much more emotional connection.
Back in the classroom this morning with an explanation of depth of field and using the aperture for creative control. We worked with “the girls” today on the photography side – it just happens that the girls in the group have less photo training, while the boys are more experienced, and we’ve divided the class into beginners and advanced.
Today the group took a break from the teaching and project work and went for a day trip across the lake to Panajachel. The largest town on Lago Atitlan, Pana, as its often known, is the tourist and ex-pat mecca of the Atitlan area. This makes for a busy and photo-op rich environment.
We began the day with the less experienced kids in the group, and introduced them to the basics of exposure control – aperture, shutter and ISO, and the relationships between them. These kids have worked with digital point & shoot cameras and have a respectable grounding in composition, and this shows them how to get consistent, predictable results in their photos.
The third Design4Kids workshop began in earnest today in Santiago de Atitlan, Guatemala.
I’m making the final preparations for the third Design4Kids workshop in Santiago de Atitlan, Guatemala. Leaving in just a week! Eric, Jeff and I have become the core group of instructors there, and we’re really coming together as a team. Naturally it helps that all of us have the same passion – teaching the skills we have to give these kids an opportunity to develop a career path and success for themselves.
Finally! After four months, I’ve uploaded the photos from the June Design4Kids workshop to my website. Much of that time was waiting for the site to be up and running. Take a look at 
We’re affiliated with Fotokids, a non-profit organization teaching photography in several programs within Guatemala and now Honduras. Every six months a select group of these talented young people are selected to come with us to Santiago de Atitlan for a week-long workshop, where they actually work with a client to produce a marketing or promotional piece.The goal of the workshops is to help the kids develop the skills and knowledge to operate their own design studio. That is now a reality, in the form of Jarakamba – a studio with offices in Santiago and Guatemala City.