What do we need to commit to at a basic level to be better photographers?
If you’ve been getting and reading my emails, you know I’m a big fan of working in manual exposure mode because it allows us the most creativity.
But there’s one thing, regardless of whatever exposure mode we choose to work in, that’s a common element of composition.
And that’s what I refer to as framing and content.
Framing and content are probably the easiest and fastest elements of composition and the first to improve.
Specifically, framing and content are what we put in the frame of our photograph from edge to edge.
When it comes to framing and content, we don’t want to include too much or too little .
Framing and content is something we could also practice with the cameras on our phones.
To pull this framing and content thing off successfully,
we’ve gotta commit something to our compositional process; what we’ve gotta commit is our attention.
The real benefit of this practice is increasing our attention, which we can also call increasing our visual awareness.
Increasing our visual awareness in framing and content carries over to increasing our visual awareness and understanding of other aspects of our photography studies and practice.
This includes characteristics of light, camera operation, and critiques.
Our attention to what we’re doing when we’re doing it is probably one of the most important things we
need to observe when making a picture.
For example, when we’re focusing, we need to be aware that we’re focusing.
We need to be aware that we’re framing content when we frame content.
Framing and content are the most accessible elements of composition because we can practice framing and content with any camera, regardless of our understanding of photography.
I make sure every photographer I work with learns to do this.
And if we’ve never brought it ( framing and content ) to our attention, we can immediately begin to do it.
Give it a try.
I’ll bet you’ll be happier with your photography immediately.
The Introduction To Photography classes are starting soon.
If the schedules don’t work for you, we could arrange a series of private lessons covering the same material.