To frame: to arrange or adjust for a purpose.
A practice that constantly challenges and helps me improve my Photography is the attention to framing. If Photography is visual storytelling, then framing is a form of editing on the spot. When I point the camera at a scene, I try to ask myself two questions every single time: “What kind of a story am I trying to tell?” and “What part of this scene is absolutely necessary to tell this particular story?” Ever since I started playing with that, I noticed patterns in my ways of seeing and (I think) I began to develop a stronger point of view and style. For example, I learned that one of my favorite things to do is zoom in and crop body parts, with the intention of adding a tiny mystery to the image and just a hint of a story.
How about you? Any framing ideas to share? Show us how you edit what you see.
Intriguing photograph, I love the way you used the depth of field and the back of the ladies head rather than her face. Composition is excellent. Well thought out.
Si
It is amazing the sense of scene you get here, even with only bits and pieces of the whole package. Really well done. 🙂
i know that ponytail! and there is only 1 couch that color. sigh. lovely shot. love the post. love you. : )
i, too, like it when things spill off the page:: and yes, great shot and i love the DOF too!
This shot is beautiful! I also like photographing only parts of a person to make the intended story more interesting. I like these two suggested questions to ask as you are framing. I once took some photos of my children drinking from a water fountain. My favorite shot turned out to be the one of the bowl of the water fountain with a tiny reflection of my daughter.
http://fightingwindmills.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/drinking-it-all-in/
How very interesting!!! I find myself adjusting my glasses and my distance from my monitor because, right now, my brain is telling me the center of the photo should be the focus. I LOVE this picture and I love what you say about asking yourself what part of the scene is necessary for the story to be told. Thanks for sharing!!
lovely photograph!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djbeat/4162257920/
i like how this one was framed brown fuzzy snow suit against the snow
Oh, I love this! I love framing photos so you only see part of the scene – you only see what’s necessary to tell the story. I love leaving the rest of the scene to the imagination of the viewer. Here’s a recent photo I took which I think captures some mystery with the way it’s framed:
http://artcetera.squarespace.com/artcetera/2009/12/5/view-05-possibilities.html
We’ve been devouring Clementines all weekend. My niece couldn’t have looked sweeter as she waited patiently for her next one.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22634402@N02/4163227972/
When I am about to press the shutter, I look in my viewfinder to see if there is an object already in the viewfinder suitable for framing my focus. If there is then I will zoom in to use that object as a frame. Here is a recent photograph where I did exactly that.
http://pkphotography.us/2009/12/look-at-those-eyes/
beautiful
I love this!
I try to keep the tones monochromatic with a hint of the opposite on the colour wheel…like you I try to focus on one thing and let the rest blur out.
Sometimes I achieve this and sometimes I don’t. But it is a fun process regardless.
I do think less is more in a photo. Cramming too much in doesn’t work!
xox
NICE!!!