Project 1: Elements and Principles Poster

Elements and Principles Chart

The Elements and Principles Chart project is a study in the building blocks of photography where in you provide example photos for the elements or principles, and then take some photo examples of your own. In doing this, you can hope to better understand how to apply these building blocks to your own photography in the future. But what is the difference between elements and principles in photography? One simple way to understand the difference is that an element is what makes up your piece, like an elements found in slice of beef. However, a principle is a tool that helps the piece becomes more organized and easier to take in as an artwork, like a fork that leads the beef into the person's mouth.

In working at this project, I began to take notice to factors in my photography that I had not given as much attention to as before. I have always had a great interest in colors and shadows, so naturally things such as color, contrast, and emphasis were given more attention than others. However, I have now come to appreciate all elements and principles as important, and can't wait to apply these new ideas to future work.