Framing

I shot my first wedding as an assistant the other day. It was great to get a feel for the photographer’s experience of a wedding and I gained a new respect for how fast they have to think on their feet and react to fluid situations. I enjoyed myself, the couple seemed to complement each other so well and I found myself really invested in their experience, I even got teary eyed in the speeches.

Whilst I learnt allot from being on the actual shoot, most of my learning from the experience came when I was reviewing the photographs I had taken on my pc. The thing that stuck out the most about the images, was framing. Looking at the pictures I had taken, there were a few which would have been so much better if I had just taken that extra split second to make sure I had things framed correctly instead of being so caught up in what was happening in front of me and trying to capture it. So I thought I would spend a few moments rehashing some of the framing and composition tips I was taught.

As has been previously mentioned, there is this rule called the rule of thirds and it goes something like this. Over your image you should imagine a grid, the grid is divided equally into 9 blocks by two horizontal and two vertical lines, so it is your basic 0’s and X’s board. The rule states that the compositional elements of your picture should be found at the points of intersection between the dividing lines of the grid. I have been told by more than one photographer however, that they don’t really stick to this rule exactly, but rather take away from it that centre framing is generally the least aesthetically pleasing way to do things.

If someone is not facing/looking directly into the camera, then it’s better to try and get them looking into the frame than out of it. This means that if you are taking a picture of someone who is looking to their right, it’s generally best to place them in the left of the frame and vice-versa.

Apparently the eye naturally looks at a picture from top left to bottom right, so if you are placing your subject in the corner of your frame, the bottom right is a good one to choose as the eye will be lead into the subject.

Try not to cut anyone off at the joints; it always looks awkward when someone is cut off at the elbow or knee. Also it’s generally better to cut a picture above a joint than below, if you look at a picture where someone is cut off mid thigh it looks allot better than when someone is cut off mid shin.

Hands are a very expressive part of the body so where you can, try keep them in frame. Whilst there are exceptions, it tends to give the feel of an unfinished story when the hands are cut out.

Make sure your subjects neither too much nor too little head room in the picture. Most people tend to frame their subjects too tightly when they are not actually taking a close up shot. A good trick is to imagine that each person has a coffee cup on their head and make sure you get the cup in frameJ.

The same can be said for feet, if you are taking full length shot try to imagine that your subject is standing on a coffee cup as well as balancing one on their heads.

And lastly one of the good compositional tips to remember, especially in event photography, is to include context into your shots. At this wedding I ended up taking a picture of the father placing his daughter’s hands into the groom’s , and it would have been a great shot of a special moment, but the problem was that without the context of the people’s faces, it is really just a picture of three random sets of hands. I also found that I had neglected the guests a bit during the ceremony and there were a couple of images where I could have widened the angle to get the bride and groom in context with their guests.

Whilst I could have benefitted allot from thinking my shots through a little more carefully and applying this knowledge, I did get a few images that I liked, so here are some of those…