composition in photography – framing the shot
In composing a photograph, what you exclude from the frame, is as important as what you include. With this portrait of Anelisa, I noticed that at this angle, the light reflecting off the black-painted wall created a warm glow of light behind her. With the receding lines of the bricks, I immediately composed the photo to exclude everything but our model and the specific background. A very specific background. Looking at the edges of the camera’s viewfinder, I eliminated everything that could distract or didn’t add to the image, such as the shop fronts in the background. (This image could perhaps still be tightened up with a minor crop in the edit. But this is the full frame as I had it in the camera, so I had to go with the usual 2:3 ratio.)
The lighting?
Just the sunlight reflecting off the sidewalk that flooded the area with warm soft light.
photography books by Neil vN
newsletter / forum / workshops & seminars
Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.
If you need more direct help or instruction on flash photography,
I do present workshops & seminars and also offer individual tutoring sessions.
If you find these articles interesting and of value, then you can help by
using these affiliate links to order equipment & other goodies. Thank you!
Neil,
Who is Jeremy Miracle?
Tom K.
PS Brilliant shot.
Comment by Tom K. — June 4, 2010 @ 12:55 pm
Comment by Neil vN — June 4, 2010 @ 1:11 pm
Wow, I really like this shot– it’s mesmerizing. Love the pose and the concept. I notice the big shift in color temp across the model, but it doesn’t bother me.
Comment by Chip — June 4, 2010 @ 4:24 pm
Great shot, while on this subject, may I ask when you are framing a shot, do you always keep in mind the cropping issue the sensor ratio creates? Let me explain… If I take a shot, say the one above for instance, if I wanted to print that as a 8×10 I would have to crop the photo, shortening the longest edge, therefor losing the original composition I had in camera. Does that make sense? So when composing your shots do you keep in mind the cropping that occurs when printing and allow a little breathing space? I use a D300s that has a DX sensor, maybe your D3′s sensor are a different ratio? Hope that makes sense!
Best regards
Matt
Comment by Matt Heath — June 4, 2010 @ 4:30 pm
Sorry Neil – I meant to warn you about the (incorrect) copyright when I sent the file – I’m not sure how to edit that. Great shot and its nice to know what my camera is capable of in the right hands – now I have no more excuses.
Comment by Jeremy Miracle — June 5, 2010 @ 10:15 am
There are several EXIF programs that can strip or alter the copyright data from the image. I use ExifTool (command line tool) on my Mac (http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/), but Neil’s workflow may already have a way to do this.
Comment by Stephen — June 5, 2010 @ 11:45 am
Hi Neil, did you see my question above? Its still something I find difficult, the problem of not being able to print the composition you create in camera, am I missing something here? just wondered how you deal with this?
Many thanks
Matt
Comment by Matt Heath — July 27, 2010 @ 3:32 am
Comment by Neil vN — July 27, 2010 @ 8:04 am