There are six formal elements of photography: lines, shapes, repetition/patterns, texture, value/tone, and focus. These formal elements are the fundamentals of photography. Combining all of them gives us an image, and they are also what photographers should pay serious attention to. If these elements are taken care of, an image would look more visually appealing to the audience than if they were not. Similarly, if there is a balance between them in a photograph, the image would look more pleasant and natural to the eyes. Lines are the most basic element of all. They direct the viewer’s attention to the photograph’s subject. Lines also create structure, dividing components and regions of a photograph from each other and adding emotion simultaneously. Shapes are visual elements in a piece, which could vary from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. They can also be geometric or organic. Geometric shapes are regular and predictable. Squares, rectangles, and circles are considered geometric, while a water droplet, a rock, and other unpredictable shapes are classified as organic. Shapes can provide structure and balance in photographs, and their outlines can bring different emotions to the audience. Curved lines are generally energetic, while straight lines show order and smoothness. Patterns are the repetition of lines, figures, or textures throughout a region (or the whole of) the photograph. Similar to shapes, they can also represent emotion, with patterns of geometric shapes creating a sort of rhythm and calmness, while patterns of organic shapes are turbulent and unsettling. They can also deliberately create a sense of harmony or disruptions. Texture is the “feel” of a shape’s surface. Texture is captured using light well in the photograph. It adds depth and communicates ideas between the photograph and the audience. In different styles of photographs, texture is also captured differently. For example, straight photography’s textures are full of detail, while in pictorialism, photos refer to the image’s surface quality, which is usually related to how the compositor manipulated the image. Tones are the relative brightness of different image parts, ranging from solid black to pure white. Value is related to tones, which refer to the range of light in the image. In photography, they create depth and emotion, with darker tones representing dramatic or mysterious moods, and vice versa for light tones. Focus is the region of an image that has maximal sharpness. Focusing makes a part of a photograph very sharp, while the rest is typically blurred. This technique focuses the audience’s attention on the subject rather than the surroundings, and is commonly used in straight photography.

This photograph uses leading lines to direct the viewer’s attention to the main focal point, which in this case is far in the distance. The image always conveys a calm emotion and represents stability in the photograph. 

This image illustrates a mother with 2 of her children. We notice a triangular shape formed between the three, and the vertical lines of her arm lead towards her head, furthermore emphasizing her despair and powerlessness.  

This image adds on a very smooth texture of the dunes to it’s main subject, which makes a contrast with the textures of the clouds on top that poses a randomized, streaky texture. 

This image shows a pepper with different tones, with its value changing accordingly to its location with the light source. The pepper itself mostly uses brighter tones, while the background user a darker black tone, making the image have more depth and more visually appealing. This also emphasizes the subject in the photograph.

This image shows a geometric pattern on the top right corner of the image, showing a repetition of rectangle liked shapes . Comparing this to the rest of the image, this pattern shows emotions of stability and calmness in the photograph.  

This image puts the focus on the workers, blurring the background in order to place the viewer’s attention on the people. The picture uses this focus to create a feeling of empathy for the workers working atop the skyscraper. 

In my opinion, yes it is possible for an image to just show one element at a time. For example, the second image above mainly focuses on shapes to express emotion and sympathy of the despaired mom and children. The fact that is just used one element didn’t stop the image from being extremely successful. However, in my opinion, the more elements there are inside an image, the easier it is for it to convey emotion and be visually appealing, as there would be more components inside it for the audience to appreciate.

Works Cited 

The Dunes. medium.com/@arshdeep.nz/this-weeks-photo-desert-clouds-study-2-morocco-michael-kenna-49a66972bde2. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025. 

Lunch Atop a Skyscraper. www.rockefellercenter.com/magazine/arts-culture/lunch-atop-skyscraper-irish-immigrants/. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025. 

Migrant Mother. hsvmuseum.org/dorothea-langes-america/. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025. 

Pepper. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/aug/18/edward-weston-photography. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025. 

The Road Ahead. onionesquereality.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/the-road-ahead/. Accessed 4 Sept. 2025.