Woodbadge at Philmont Scout Ranch. Photo by Roger Morgan
I remember when one of my students submitted a photograph of a framed picture on the wall in response to my assignment to make a picture using the framing technique. I do have a sense of humor but this was not turned in as a joke.
This picture made by Roger Morgan is a good example of framing. He used a person standing close to him to help frame the rest of the content of the photograph. That person was standing in shade so he is in silhouette by comparison. In scenic photographs, the frame is often low-hanging tree branches. Basically, you are shooting through or under something to the main content of the photograph. Roger’s picture is a good illustration of using a person as the frame.
Why do we tend to like pictures with some framing? A photograph is a two dimensional object, width and height. Framing places something close to the camera with the main features farther away. Visually our brain easily interprets this as depth, thus adding a virtual third dimension to the photograph.