Welcome to the ninth meeting of the Eden Photographers Club! I hope everyone had a good month of thinking about photography and looking at the world through a photographer’s eyes. I want to thank all of you who are here tonight. Although the leaves are being shed from the trees and winter is soon upon us, there are still plenty of opportunities to get out there and make some beautiful photography

This meeting will focus on framing not the type of framing you might do in a wooden rectangle after you've printed a photo, but rather situating your subjects in your image to bring attention to them and give them context. Framing can be simple of complex, but either way, it can greatly influence the quality of your photos.

Before we get started, is there anything anybody wanted to bring up about photography or the club?

Anything at all?
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Welcome to the ninth meeting of the Eden Photographers Club! I hope everyone had a good month of thinking about photography and looking at the world through a photographer’s eyes. I want to thank all of you who are here tonight. Although the leaves are being shed from the trees and winter is soon upon us, there are still plenty of opportunities to get out there and make some beautiful photography

This meeting will focus on framing not the type of framing you might do in a wooden rectangle after you've printed a photo, but rather situating your subjects in your image to bring attention to them and give them context. Framing can be simple of complex, but either way, it can greatly influence the quality of your photos.

Before we get started, is there anything anybody wanted to bring up about photography or the club?

Anything at all?
less

To be clear, framing your image isn't quite the same thing as composing it. Framing can be a component of composition, but not every photo needs to have the subject framed. That was probably confusing, so let me break it down a bit. Composition is the way you organize everything in your image. Using the Rule of Thirds, lines, framing, etc. are all compositional elements that you can use to draw attention to not only your subject, but the entire image. Framing is specifically using features to draw attention to your subject while at the same time putting it into some sort of context.

Still not making sense? Well, try this. after you read each of the next sentences, close your eyes and imagine them.
-- You are on a tropical beach at sunset with a palm tree arching gracefully over the beach in front of you with the setting sun under it.
-- You are in Italy and spy an ancient fountain through a stone archway.
-- You are at a dance club and, between two martini glasses on your table you see a couple dancing.
-- You look out an old, divided window upon the first heavy snowfall of winter.

At each of these photo opportunities, you have a choice. You could have gone for a basic sunset photo, but including the tree draws attention to the sun and also lets everyone know you are on a tropical beach rather than some random beach. The fountain might make a nice photo itself, but including the archway focuses attention on it while letting everyone know that it is in a more intimate setting. People dancing can look good, but framed by booze-filled glasses lets people know this is a club where you are relaxing and socializing in addition to dancing. Snow photos can be wonderful by themselves, but a twist would be to juxtapose the stark cold with the warm comfort of your home. Although framing rarely portrays an emotion, it can certainly foster one.

You with me? less

I have to admit that I actually don't use framing very frequently in my photography. That's not because I don't think it is an effective means to compose a photo, but rather that objects one could use to frame out in nature (where I do my photography) are not as common as in areas constructed by people. In nature, trees and portals in rocks (e.g., arches and caves) are the most common objects you can use to frame your subject, but with enough inventiveness, you can use others as well.








These aren't my best photos, but in the first one, the trees frame the mountains in the background and bring attention to the fact that there is a lot of distance between them. In the second photo, the trees frame the waterfall and show how the waterfall is in a forest setting.

You might also notice that the objects doing the framing in each photo doesn't completely enclose the main focal point. They need not do so to be effective. To be effective, they need to put focus on your subject and bring context to it. less