Use the basic rules of framing to improve your photography skills

While taking photos, we frame photos instinctively and won’t think of any ‘rules’ while clicking. Particularly with the digital cameras because you can take as many as you want.

Your best photographs will invariably be following some of the basic framing rules for composition of photos, even though you may not have done that on purpose. Understanding these rules will help guide your instincts while taking your next photo.

You would be surprised to know how these very simple rules can help – Read on

Rule of thirds:

This is the most heard rule of photography - and the most important as well. Imagine the frame is divided into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. The four meeting points of imaginary lines are the best areas to place your subject.

Image - Rules of thirds

You may use these imaginary lines while clicking subjects with natural lines – normally landscapes or architectures. For example, try to place the horizon on any of the imaginary horizontal lines and avoid placing it at the dead center. Photos of tall buildings or towers would look good if you place it on the vertical lines.

Be it a close-up or a long shot, keep rule of third in mind and place them appropriately in the frame to draw attention to the subject and get a nice perspective for portrait photos.

Remark: modern digital cameras may have the possibility to display these lines on the LCD display and/or in the viewfinder.

Keep it simple:

“Why am I shooting this?” is a mandatory question every photographer should ask himself/herself before clicking. Anything that distracts viewer’s attention from your main subject should be avoided and keeping the frame simple is the best possible way to draw full attention to the main subject.

If your intention is to take a portrait photo, why include the entire surroundings in the frame? Always make the frame as tight as possible and do not clutter the frame with unimportant things. Look at the edges and corners of the frame and avoid anything that doesn’t make the picture better or distracts the viewer.

Get closer:

You might have purchased a hefty zoom lens recently. It’s obvious that you would be tended to use it rather than going close to the subject. But remember that telephoto lens will give you a minimal depth-of-field and the details you get with it would be minimal.

As you are staying away from the subject, it is very difficult to choose different angles as well. So, move closer and use your legs rather than the zoom.

Use lines:

Lines direct the flow of viewers’ eyes to the main subject and prominence of the subject will be more pronounced. Getting a three-dimensional effect or a surreal depth will be so easy with the help of lines.

Look at your frame and think of different angles that would form lines in the frame. You may place roads, fence, trees, bushes, rivers, walls or anything else properly to achieve the desired effect.

Different types of lines give different effects and one has to be very careful while choosing them. Horizontal lines show stability whereas vertical lines convey a message of power, strength or growth. Diagonal lines are generally used to draw viewers’ eyes to a particular point, which may be the main attraction of the photo. The formation of diagonal lines itself can be a nice subject. Converging lines also can be used for directing the flow of viewers’ eyes. It also conveys a message of infinity or long distance.

Note: Lines need not to be straight or uniform and different formations give different perspectives. See the Ansal Adams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams) photograph below for example

The composition and perspective give the two-dimensional photo 3D feel. The use of lines in the composition makes our eyes follow the rivers to the mountain range.

Use natural frames available to you

The technique of using natural objects as a frame helps to draw viewers’ whole attention to the subject easily.

Trees, windows, tunnels, doorways and archways are some of the objects you can use to create frames within the picture area. But one has to be very careful while choosing a frame because depth of field available would be a problem in some cases.

Keep experimenting

Once you are done with understanding the basics and clicked plenty shots following the basic rules, start experimenting with different angles and different locations.

Sometimes, you need to break the rules too