Visual Path
The route the eye takes through a photograph, determined by the arrangement of weights, lines and contrasts.
In depth
Viewers do not see a picture all at once; they enter it somewhere, move through it and exit. Composing well means controlling that sequence — providing an entry point, a route with something at each stop, and ideally a loop that returns rather than an exit at the frame edge. Photographs that leak attention out of a corner feel unsatisfying for exactly this reason.
Examples in practice
A path leading from the bottom-left corner to a cottage, with a hill behind curving back toward the start, keeps the eye circulating.