Danny Schweers

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Composition: Lines to Corners

The idea behind “Lines to Corners” is a simple one: frame scenes so that diagonals come from one or more corners; that is, so items line up to diagonals going to corners. Sometimes what goes to corners is not lines but things in a line. Below are some images of mine using “Lines to Corners”. Here is a link to Eric Kim’s discussion of diagonals:
http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2013/10/10/street-photography-composition-lesson-3-diagonals/

Click here to see all the posts in Danny’s “Take Better Photos” blog.

Sample Images, Lines to Corners

Lines to Corners used in a big way here, from the upper left to lower right. There is also a more subtle, shorter line coming from the upper right, pointing to the top glass.


Besides using the Rule of Thirds, this photo of a tunnel in Baltimore uses Lines to Corners in a big way. I was not driving!


Preston Gardens Park at Elizabeth Court, Baltimore, Maryland. Lines can be curved. This one starts in the upper left, bounces off the right-hand side, then continues to the lower left.

Father and son in river, Wimberley, Texas, 1984. In addition to the wonderful light and the handsome subjects, this image uses both Rule of Thirds and Lines to Corners.

The father’s forearms are on a line going to the upper left while his son’s torso is on a line going to the lower left. The Rule of Thirds is also strongly present in this image. Click here to see my “Rule of K” post which combines Lines to Corners with the Rule of Thirds.

In this image, the handle of the broom points exactly to the corner in the lower right, as does my wife’s right forearm. A more general version of Lines to Corners is simply to arrange objects at an dynamic angles rather than squaring them up in the frame.

I could have cropped this image from the bottom so that the sides of the ladder went to corners. Like the Rule of Thirds, Lines to Corners can be used to crop images, and to rotate them so that lines not quite to corners do go to corners.

abandoned railcar near New Hope, Pennsylvania, along the Delaware River

Abandoned railcar near New Hope, Pennsylvania, along the Delaware River. Besides the strong line coming from the lower left, the railcar is centered one-third down and one-third from the left while the vanishing point is one-third from the top and one-third from the right.

Lines to corners here in a big way. Another rule of composition is simplicity, to reduce the number of objects in an image to the bare minimum.

Twilight Walk photo by Danny N. Schweers, copyright 2017

“Twilight Walk” won 2nd place in the 3rd Annual Rehoboth Art League Regional Juried Photography Competition. This image was shot at one-third of a second while I shook the camera.

Ice found along Cherry Lane in Arden, Delaware with lines going to every corner. I was not consciously trying to do that. After awhile, rules of composition become second nature. This is only a problem when you want an image to look un-composed. Then, having developed your eye, you have to consciously forget the rules of composition.


Here I am dancing in front of the neon lights outside Threadgill’s Restaurant in Austin, Texas with the shutter open for twenty seconds. Lines to corners make this image even more dynamic. Again, lines can be curved.

Recent Posts

  • Light Painting with Camera and Flash Light
  • Class 1, Danny Schweers Photography
  • Camera Variables
  • Photo Classes and Workshops, Wilmington, Delaware
  • Class 2: Control Noise with ISO Settings
  • Good SLR and Mirrorless Cameras
  • Explore Your Camera’s Manual Mode
  • Class 3: Explore Your Camera’s Shutter Speeds.
  • Composition: Lines to Corners
  • Rule Of Thirds
  • Explore Your Camera’s ISO Settings
  • Separate Subject From Background
  • Black-Eyed Susan Room Divider
  • Rice Spill
  • Lines to Corners, Rule of Thirds, and the Letter “K”

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  • Delaware Art Museum
  • Photo Prayer
  • Photography Classes, Wilmington, DE
  • Welcome 2 My World

DannySchweers.com

Danny Schweers teaches photography lessons in and around Wilmington, Delaware. To learn more, click here to contact him.

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