| Welcome to the first in a
series of articles designed to make you a better
photographer. In the coming months we'll cover an aspect
of composition or add to your understanding about the
mechanics of picture-taking. You may already know many of the design principles we are going to cover in this series, yet many design-trained people become all thumbs when a camera is placed in their hands because they're accustomed to working only with stock images taken by someone else. Our goal is to get you thinking about what makes an effective picture before you take the shot. Just think of all the time you'll save in darkroom and digital manipulations if you avoid making common mistakes in the first place. Framing
the Shot |
 |
 |
You'd be surprised how many people hold
a camera only one way. Guess which way? If you guessed landscape, you'd be correct. More than 70% of photos are taken in the landscape format. In many situations portrait mode is the better choice. |
| Vertical or portrait shots are suitable for many subjects, including people, because the shape allows the subject to fill the frame. The portrait format is also the shape used most often on the printed page because it fits the page better. |
| Consider for example this sign resting
in a shop window in a Seattle neighborhood. It caught my
eye because it tells a story. When I find something interesting to photograph, one of the first questions I ask myself is how I'm going to frame this subject, what's going to be included in the picture and what's to be left out. |
 |
| My hunch was the sign would look best captured in the portrait mode, but I decided to take two shots, one each way. Film is far cheaper than the time or gasoline necessary to revisit the scene. |
 Let's look at the landscape
version |
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Camera photography magazine. |
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Revised May 15, 1999