USING THE FRAME

SEE THE PHOTOGRAPH AS A WHOLE

Creating a strong composition with a camera means framing, with the camera’s viewfinder, a section of the environment in which the photographer stands. The possible options for composing any given subject are nearly endless and include choices such as camera position or lens focal length. One error many beginning photographers make is to photograph at the first place they set up. They simply see one composition, click the camera, and move on. This approach is rarely as successful as it could have been.

To fully explore the possibilities of any worthy situation, you should really work the scene and experiment with the many options. This is one of the most exciting parts of photography—the arrangement of objects within the rectangle. By very carefully observing the relationships of lines and forms, foreground and background, and the balance of tones, you can take the extra time to refine the image design.

Work the scene by moving your feet. A step to the left or a step backward can make a huge difference in the image’s design. Try changing lenses to help find a different perspective. With digital capture, there is no more worry about film and processing expense, so don’t be too timid with your experimentations.

The entire frame becomes your subject, and your attention in all parts of the frame is critical. As you have probably heard many times over, distractions around the edge of the frame can ruin an otherwise good photograph. A bright piece of sky on the edge of an otherwise darkly lit image will pull the viewer’s eye out of the frame. An out of focus branch in an otherwise sharp image will do the same.

One of my favorite compositional techniques is to fill the frame with a textural pattern. The frame is filled with an even pattern across the frame, isolating the subject from any distracting elements. Sometimes the image can give the effect of fabric or wallpaper. In the forest image shown on the previous spread, for example, the branches and blossoms spread throughout the frame. No sky or distracting bright areas are included, nor is any foreground. This gives the composition a flatness that heightens the textural effect.

To create the Redbud and Dogwood image in the Great Smoky Mountains, I used a 360mm lens on my 4x5 camera, which is similar to a 100mm on 35mm format. The longer focal lengths are very useful for isolating a pattern from the larger view. Looking for some balance of color and form, I found an angle where the dogwood and redbud blossoms moved diagonally across the frame. This is often a process of trial and error, that of setting up the tripod, looking through the viewfinder, and moving again and again until all the elements come together. Strong composition means great footwork!

On the same trip to the Smokies, I visited a famous overlook in the National Park. Along the back end of the parking lot, there was an exposed section of wonderful rock formations. While others photographed the grand scene from the designated overlook, I hunched over my 4x5 looking for the perfect design using the rock’s color and cracks, moving in close to isolate the strongest combination of these elements. As with the forest image, I filled the frame from edge to edge, moving the tripod until the frame included only what I felt to be essential.

I think of the process of composing an image as a combination of exploration and refinement. Explore with your heart and refine with your mind.

Photography is a system of visual editing. At bottom, it is a matter of surrounding with a frame a portion of one’s cone of vision, while standing in the right place at the right time. Like chess, or writing, it is a matter of choosing from among given possibilities, but in the case of photography the number of possibilities is not finite but infinite.

– JOHN SZARKOWSKI IN ON PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUSAN SONTAG

Rock Design | Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina | 1991

Aspens and Pond | Purgatory, Colorado | 1985