Richard Bernabe’s Beyond the Lens publication recently spoke about the frame not being the border. In that publication he states “Every time you raise a camera, you’re doing something that sounds ordinary but is actually radical. You’re taking a world that has no edges, continuous, chaotic, indifferent, and saying: this. This slice. This moment. This relationship between these particular things. The rest of the world? Excluded. Gone. Irrelevant, at least for now.”
I would suggest reading that post. It’s articulate, and states significant points, and is how I view composition and ‘framing’ a scene.
Our viewfinder (or the LCD, whichever you prefer to use) is only the edge of what we are seeing that interests us; as such, we must ensure that the edges are clean (what I call perimeter patrol), that we are ‘framing’ our subject nicely; yet do we think about how other elements might add something to our scene?
I want to take that idea a bit further, in terms of using elements within the scene that can create depth and channel the viewer’s eye.
Arches, railing struts, trees, windows – all of these can add impact by channeling the viewer’s eye into the ‘background’ to a specific moment or scene.
The dark edges of a doorway I was looking through created a frame to channel the viewer to the young monk. I liked the depth of this scene - the dark border, the monk in the middle ground, and then a surprise - the monk inside the background doorway.
The trees formed a perfect frame to photograph this historic building in Wurtzburg, Germany, and made it infinitely more interesting than just the huge building on its own. Contained by the trees and the graceful arching of the branches above, we look into this scene.
Taking that a bit further, the ‘frame’ is the window that provides a view to the buildings that gives not only depth but a sense of place to this scene.
The hallway I was standing in provided a nice framing for the trompe l’oleil on the buildings beyond, and then I got lucky when the man walked through the frame!
The open doorway and door jam provide the frame to pull us inward.
What about frames in nature? Frames that are not manmade structures?
While not a complete frame, the arch of ice hanging above/over the seal adds depth and channels our vision. Compare it to the second one. In the first image, it feels like you’ve just discovered it hidden behind this wall of ice. In the second image, it’s just there and while it too is a good image, perhaps the first one is just a tad more interesting? (There are no wrong answers.)
The Sierra Range viewed through an arch in the Alabama Hills in eastern California. The arch provided the perfect frame - the near element juxtaposed against the far background mountains, a great way to express depth.
In Namibia, these giant aloes, aka quiver trees, provided a great frame to add depth and force the viewer through to the background scene.
And finally, the image below.
Becoming aware of elements that could serve as frames allows you to potentially create images that have more impact. It sheds a whole new light on the idea of being framed. :)
That’s all for now, enjoy your weekend!
These are great tips. Thanks Brenda. I've never tried to sell pictures, but my one "claim to fame" on Getty Images was a picture of the Ziggurat of Ur where I wandered away from the steps and found another little dilapidated building and shot an image of the ziggurat through the crumbled remains of an old window ... literally a frame. 😁
Love all the framing examples--inspired to try some.