Framing

This is one of the most important skill areas to develop in your photography. Much of what I am going to say here will probably seem very obvious, but people often forget good ideas in the heat of the moment so it is probably best to reinforce some of these ideas through practice for a while and then you will come to do these things naturally and unconciously.

See your viewfinder as a picture.

We tend to see the view finder as a window and look through it rather than at it as if it were a two dimensional picture. Several milimeters of the frame will be clipped off by the printing machine or the plastic slide frame - so please, please allow a little extra space around your subject than you think you need.

Keep asking yourself "What is my subject?". Try to look at the viewfinder rather than through it and try to develop the following critical questioning.

1) How much of the frame shows my subject?

What should I exclude? Cut out irrelevent things. Try to position the frame so that your subject totally dominates the frame. This may require you to move the camera, yourself or to zoom in.

You cannot always fill the frame as well as you would like. Now you must get creative. Usually there is some space around your subject. Think about where this space should be and move your camera slightly to try different compositions. Don't know where the space should be? Take several shots and critically review them later. Learn from the duff stuff.

Try to have active subjects moving into space.

Try to have human or animal subjects facing toward space.

Ask yourself which looks better to you, more space above or below the subject. If in doubt - take several shots.

What should I include? Avoid clipping out any part of the main subject. If you want a close-up shot think in terms of a crucial part of the subject that will now become the main subject. For example the eye of an animal, the flower of a plant or the face of a person.

2) Should I frame horizontally or vertically?

This is especially important with people and landscapes. Generally speaking the answer is: whichever orientation allows the subject to better fill your frame. If in doubt take several pictures. Analyse the results later. Remember to allow a crucial few milimeters of extra space around the outside of the frame for the printing machine to waste.

Horizontal Orientation

Positions A-D show golden section points where a small or distant main subject can be placed and give a pleasing composition. Avoid plonking your main subject in the centre of the picture unless it fills up most of the frame.

Vertical Orientation

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