Framing the Scene

I want to show you all real quick the importance of framing a shot and the difference it can make on an image. For me it’s one of my favorite things to do when I’m taking pictures, as it challenges me to find a new way of photographing something that’s probably been photographed the same way over and over again.

Take a look at the below image. It’s not a bad one, don’t get me wrong, but for me it’s the same image that dozens of other people may have because it didn’t take any creativity to get this image:

Again, a solid image with the Black-eyed Susans in the picture, but nothing to make it stand apart. You’ll also notice the flowers are in focus and the house is not, and that’s because I shot this at f/4. I probably should’ve bumped my aperture up to get more of the house in focus, but that’s a whole separate discussion.

To make this shot stand apart, I had to think outside of the box. You see the grouping of Black-eyed Susans on the lower right of the picture? I used those to frame this scene and make it unique. Check out the below picture and see what I mean:

Makes a big difference doesn’t it? Again, the Stone House isn’t as in focus as I’d like, and I probably have a shot with it more in focus, but I like this one as it is. Before you take your next landscape picture, be creative and use the natural world around you to frame your scene and make your picture unique.