Summer Vacation Photos

Summer officially begins next week and that means hitting the road.

Whether you are planning a "dream vacation in the Dells" like the Gear Daddies sang about or travelling over seas, chances are you will be capturing memories of your trip on your camera of the places you visit.

As photographers, we want to make our images interesting to our viewers. Today, we'll discuss two simple ways to make your travel images more visually appealing, anchor points and lead-in lines. Both work on most subject matter whether it is a family member or a landscape.

First, let's talk about anchor points. Anchor points should draw the viewer's eye immediately to it and then send it off to dance around the rest of the image and, ultimately, back to the anchor point.  They usually are found in the foreground of an image. This may be a large boulder in a river with the river winding its way out of the image behind it. I captured the attached anchor point example while visiting Budapest, Hungary this May. I was standing on the Chain Bridge looking at the church steeple on the hill when a large tugboat and barge came cruising up the Danube River. I used the barge as my anchor point in this image to initially grab the viewer's eye and then send it to the other side of the river, up the hill and to the church steeple.  Does your eye go to the barge first?

Another way to tantalize your viewer's eye is the use of lead-in lines. Lead-in lines should lead ones eye into the image by giving it a path to follow. Trails, roads, fences, river banks and train tracks all make good lead-in lines, but, any line of sorts can work. Diagonal lines work especially well. Here is another example from Budapest looking down the Danube. The boats and road should lead your eye into the foreground of the image, up to the bridge, across the river and into the back of the image resting at the Buda castle and church steeple on the hill. Did this work with your eye?

So, this summer when you, "board the dogs, lock the door and roll down Interstate 94," think about incorporating some anchor points and lead-in lines into the vacation memories you create. Your viewers will thank you and give you lots of compliments.

Tom Dunn is an award-winning photographer specializing in fine art and business advertising photography. He photographs for the Woodbury Chamber of Commerce, Woodbury Days and the Woodbury Community Foundation and enjoys travel.