Sometimes, finding the best way to frame a photograph and give the elements due importance can be tricky. It isn’t about the style or mood you want on your images; it’s about a compositional technique that can help us focus attention and add interest to the main subject.
Framing within a frame uses foreground objects like doors, windows, textures, lights, shadows, etc., to guide the viewer’s eye to see what we want, adding image depth and, in some cases, context too.
What makes a good framing within a frame?
There are some topics that you could consider to know that you have a good framing within a frame:
- When you highlighted the elements in relevant order in your frame.
- When you remove the distractions with the depth of field or other techniques like negative space.
- When you have a good balance between framing, sub-framing, and symmetry.
How to apply the rule of thirds for sub-framing
As you know the rule of thirds describes the points where the lines intersect as the spots where the human eye puts the most attention. These intersections are where the mind of the person watching the picture searches for those elements that give a sense to the image; in this case, you should place your main object in one of those hot spots inside the frame.
How to frame within a frame in Street photography?
In Street photography, frames are everywhere. All the elements: shapes, textures, and colors that you can find randomly surrounding a subject can be a reasonable frame if you capture the scene at perfect timing.
Using the following technique, you can use the crowd, corners, cars, windows, shadows, and lights to tell the story with the perfect shot; if you are fishing, you already have the ideal framing. You are just waiting for the subject in the frame to shoot.
Before you shoot, you should ask yourself: “How essential are the secondary elements in the frame? Do the elements around the main subjects help to tell the story?” The answers to these questions will help you set the focus right to get a shallow depth of field or deep focus.
