Photography for Beginner - The Frame

From photographs, each of us can learn more about the world. Images not only inform us about the products we never knew we needed, the events, people and places too distant or remote for us to see with our own eyes, but also tell us more about the things we thought we already knew. Most of us are too preoccupied to stand and look at something for any great amount of time. We glance at some thing briefly and think we have seen it.

Our conditioning or desires often tell us what we have seen or would like to see. When we look at a photograph of something ordinary, however, it may show us the object, as we had never seen it before. With a little creative imagination and a little photographic technique, it is possible to release the extraordinary from the ordinary.

Choosing a subject
In order to photograph something that will be of interest to others, you must first remove the blinkers and photograph something that is of interest to you. Your first creative decision is an important one. What will you choose to photograph? Your first technical decision is how to frame it.

Composition
Framing the subject
A common mistake make by many amateur photographers is that they stand too far away from their subject matter, in a desire to include everything. Their photographs become busy, unstructured and cluttered with unwanted detail, which distracts from the primary subject matter. Subject matter can look unimportant and not worthy of closer attention and there is also a danger that the photographer will not have control over the composition.



Filling the frame
When the photographer moves closer, distracting background can be reduced or eliminated. There are less visual elements that have to be arranged and the photographer has mush more control over the composition. Many amateurs are afraid of chopping off the top of someone's head or missing out some detail that they feel important. Unless the photograph is to act as a factual record the need to include everything is unnecessary.

Subject placement
When the photographer has chosen a subject to photograph there is often the temptation especially for the untrained eye, to place the subject in the middle of the picture without considering the overall arrangement of shapes within the frame. If the focal point is placed in the center of the frame, the viewer's eye may not move around the whoke image and this often leads to a static and uninteresting composition. The photographer should think carefully where the main subject is placed within the image, only choosing the central location after much consideration.

The rule of third
Rules of composition have been formulated to aid designers create harmonious images which are pleasing to the eye. The most common of these rules are the 'golden section' and the 'rules of thirds'.