Formal Elements, which are also known as line, shape, color, pattern, texture, tone, and focus, are the most basic things we always have in photography. Have you ever seen a photo without any of the formal elements? Even a plain black photo contains color and tone. Photography does not exist without formal elements; they’re like oxygen in our world, something we always have and need for life. Therefore, I define the phrase formal elements as the basics of photography.

  1. Line : If we think of a line, people think of a long thing that is connected to each other, something straight, or even curved. Line can be straight or curved, long or short, and even think or think. Lines can create shapes, pattern, or focus, too.
  2. Shape : Shape is something created by lines; our lines create a square, three lines create a triangle, and organic shapes are made with lines, too. Shapes usually grabs the viewers attention as it increases interest.
  3. Color : Color is something that changes the photographs mood. Light colors show a gentle and calm feeling, while dark colors might represent something sad or terrifying. Every photograph contains color, even a plain photo has the color white; color is necessary.
  4. Pattern : Lots of elements lining with each other equally forms a pattern. Patterns can be made by lines, shapes, colors, texture, and everything! It really snatch our eyes as it’s attractive.
  5. Texture : Texture is basically how something is rough or smooth, or how something feels like. When we look at a rock, we automatically think that the rock will be rough, which also means that the it has a rough texture! Adding on, mirrors, books, or tables can represent a smooth texture.
  6. Tone : Tone is closely related to color, it shows how light and dark colors are. For example, we can say sky blue has a light undertone, and navy has a dark undertone. Tones are really important as they creates interesting scenes.
  7. Focus : Focus is the interesting one, it changes the clarity of the photo. If a photo is out of focus, it means that it’s really blurry, which relates to pictorialism. If a photo has a great clarity, we can clearly see what the photographer was trying to take.

 

Examples for each elements

  1. Color

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a photo named “Collision 5T” by Barbara Kasten. This photograph creates interested with the variety of colored glasses; red, yellow, and blue. Overlapping glasses creates a new color, too, for example, overlapping  red and yellow glasses looks like an orange colored glass. Like this, colors can really increase engagement and grabs the viewers attention!

2. Tone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo called “Pepper No. 5” by Edward Weston really represents the element “tone” in an mysterious way. The abstraction in this photography emphasizes the light and dark parts of the bell pepper; highlighting the monotone. The use of tone can increase curiosity.

3. Line

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo is also taken by Edward Weston named “Onion Halved”. It emphasizes the empty parts of a sliced onion, and the empty parts seems like curvy black lines connected to each other. Those lines also creates an organic shape. These Lines doubles up the mysterious mood and depth.

4. Texture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a photo named “Chicago” by Aaron Siskind, which shows a great use of texture. The photograph focuses on the paint peeling off of a rough wall. It emphasizes the contrast between the texture of the wall and the peeling paint, which is super cool. Textures often leads the viewers attention as it has a great amount of visual interest and reality.

5. Pattern

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo named “Tour Finaces” by Ola Kolehmainen shows a repetiton of rectangular shapes that has a great comopsition! The balanced shapes creates a calm and relaxing mood. Patterns can also create rhythms  with its equally repeated objects, which enhances the photographs engagement.

6. Focus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photograph named “Cabbage Leaf” by Edward Weston emphasizes the focus of the cabbage leaf with its great clarity and the use of the color black as the background. As the photo is in focus, the viewers are able to catch the detailed parts of the object.

7. Shape

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo by Edward Weston emphasize the shape of the shell, which eventually leads the viewers attention as it shows the detailed parts of the sell, too. Emphasizing the shape of the shell makes the photo to have a stronger focal point.

Lastly, I believe that an image can’t only show one element. A plain white photo will contain color and tone as it has a “white” color and a “light” undertone. Also, some photos even hold multiple elements, such as the bell pepper photo, it shows color, tone, shape, and form. Therefore, I feel like an image can’t only show a single element.

 

WORKS CITED:

Barbara, Kasten “Colloison 5T” Photograph. Barbara Kasten.net, Barbara Kasten, 2016, https://barbarakasten.net/collision/#4, Accessed 30th August 2025

Edward, Weston “Onion Halved” Photograph. Dragon’s Exchange, ISB, 15th August 2025, https://dx.isb.cn/dash/#/classroom/945836/sections/lesson/958329/page/958334, Accessed 30th August 2025

Edward, Weston “Pepper No. 30” Photograph. Dragon’s Exchange, ISB, 15th August 2025, https://dx.isb.cn/dash/#/classroom/945836/sections/lesson/958329/page/958334, Accessed 30th August 2025

Aaron, Siskind “Chicago” Photograph. metmuseum.org, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/267388, Accessed 31th August 2025

Ola, Kolehmainen “Tour Finances” Photograph. Invaluable.com, invaluable. https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/tour-finaces-1132-c-5534c45b35, Accessed 31st August 2025

Edward, Weston “Cabbage Leaf” Photograph. americanhistory.si.edu,The National Museum of American History, https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1384407, Accessed 31st August 2025

Edward, Weston “Shell” Photograph. Dragon’s Exchange, ISB, 15th August 2025, https://dx.isb.cn/dash/#/classroom/945836/sections/lesson/958329/page/958334, Accessed 31st August 2025