As I got a number of positive responses the last time that I did an analysis of how I made the decisions that got me to my particular take of the scene in front of me, I’m doing another post along this vein with a very different image.

_14E0575_6_4_7_8_tonemapped
Late Summer’s Day

This image is more about discovery than any other factor, as I found this location while driving through the Harvard University research forest in Petersham, MA.  There are times when one should not believe all signs; on this fine day, I chose to ignore the ‘Road Ends’ sign.  The paved road ended, but a dirt road continued and led me into a forest, where I found this stellar location.

This particular landscape has a lot of beautiful elements to it, but not one stand-out element that I wanted to highlight in this photo.  When this is the case, I like to frame the image, such as with the tree on the left and top, the overhanging branch on the right and the tall grass down low.  Framing provides a sense of looking into the scene, as it provides depth and a sense of looking into the scene rather than at it.

This rather simple trick is something that dresses up many a scene, whether you shoot it in portrait or landscape mode.  I’m looking forward to hearing from you, if you have tried this as well.

8 responses

  1. Great shot and the framing works really well with it, highlighting it beautifully. I’ve done this myself and it works well.

    1. Thank you, Miriam! Yes, I agree it’s a very useful technique.

  2. I like that. I try to do it in my landscape paintings. It is like having a curtain pulled aside

    1. Thank you. I like the way you phrase it as pulling a curtain aside.

  3. Great shot and framing. Have done this a few times without analyzing. Where I leave the sky is either clear blue majority of the year or grey in winter. Rule of third results in a undefined background and framing helps.

    1. Thank you!! Yes, when you have sky without much variation in it, framing helps tremendously. Rule of thirds definitely helps too, even though I sometimes violate it to create more empty space in the image, as that has the effect of generating a pull on the eye. Lots of possibilities!

  4. Nice quick tutorial.

Leave a Reply

The Blog

Follow Frank Jansen on his journey of exploration of our planet, universe, its inhabitants, with a camera as a set of brushes, and palette.

Latest episodes

Discover more from Dutch goes the Photo!

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading