"What is the difference between shape and form?"
Not too much in the scheme of things when you quickly think about it, but in photographic terms, they can be miles apart.
We are referring to shapes as in circles, rectangles, triangles, squares, alphabet shapes, such as 'A's', 'Aitches', etc.
Shapes also refer to a two-dimensional outline, whereas, 'form' relates to a subject's three-dimensional nature.
With form, we refer to the way light plays on the edges of surfaces. If you can imagine in your mind the very first sunlight rays of the morning or last rays of the evening light, on tops and sides of misty, rolling hills or dunes, or the human torso.
The direct side-lighting effect characterises the 'form' of these surfaces and their texture, softly and sensually as if creating abstracts and making their appearance differ from the usual way we view them.
It is the light and shadows that create 'form', which also exaggerates contour and texture.
Shapes too can stir up the emotions in some viewer's minds, as most can identify with a circle or square or triangle. Triangles with their sloping sides are also suggestive of power and strength.
You can find many examples of shapes in bridges, buildings, churches, old doorways, window frames or brickwork, even tunnels or pipes and as already suggested, shapes that form letters of the alphabet.
You can utilize some of these shapes as frames to emphasize your main subject, or to direct the eye of the viewer to the focal point or centre of interest. We will discuss framing later.
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