Using Perpendiculars in Street Photography
The absolute hardest part of writing a blog in street photography is finding a topic each week. One of the things that I do when I get an idea is to open a new document and slap on a working title on it. Because the topic has some interest for me, I usually chat with Mr. Google to see if he can add some insight about the topic. Often I find that there is enough information out there to fill a book. But if your interest is the whys and wherefores of using perpendiculars in street photos, well, the silence is, as we say, deafening.
I like geometry when it is used in street photos. Lines, straight or curved, triangles, real or implied, circles, squares, you name it, all add important interest to compositions for me. There is no shortage of guidance about the use of these traditional geometric shapes in photographic compositions. It was easy to imagine there would also be plenty of commentary on the effect perpendiculars have on a composition. Here it is: when you combine horizontal and vertical lines, which is the very definition of a perpendicular, it creates a very stable shape that is not apt to be tipped over. The idea of stability can lead the viewer to the conclusion that something is reliable or permanent. You can certainly see how the use of perpendiculars in family photography could be very helpful.
The couple are perpendicular to each other.Their legs are perpendicular. Her arm is in a perpendicular position. They seem like a long term couple to me.
Because I could find so little about the use of perpendiculars in composition, I moved to a search on what is communicated when we use perpendiculars in our body language. Needless to say, it is not always the language of love. Turning away from another human being signals that we are not interested in conversation. It is a way we separate ourselves from other people.
The image below was submitted by photographer Stephen Walters to the Street Photography Mini Challenge, #alone. It was the color winner. This is an example of using compositional contrast to create a story. There are three people who are having a happy, active interaction which contrasts starkly with the woman who is alone. This point is driven home by the fact that she is sitting perpendicular to them and facing away.
Photo by Stephen Walters. Used with permission. You can see Stephen’s Facebook gallery at Photography by Stephen Walters.
And now I have said just about everything I know about using perpendiculars in photos. I am going to have to let the photos largely speak for themselves.
The image below by photographer Monica Lord has faces that are perpendicular to each other. I find it compositionally interesting when there is both a profile and the frontal view of a face.
Photos by Monica Lord. Used with permission. You can see Monica’s Instagram gallery at @almostgreennyc.
In this image, you have repeating perpendiculars, or at least close to perpendiculars. They definitely contribute to my sense of this being a static situation.
These two images are very similar, except that in the first one, the singer’s arm is bent into an approximate perpendicular and in the second, the singer’s arm is pointing on a diagonal. I find there to be quite a difference in my perception of how dynamic the scene its.
I think some of the charm of the “walk-bys” is the fact that the hero is perpendicular to the background.
Whether perpendiculars are used simply as a composition boost, or to further the story, I find them to be an underappreciated geometric shape. I like them a lot.