We've talked in the past about how including a natural frame in your composition can be an effective technique for enhancing a composition by providing context or adding depth or dimensionality to an image. (There were lots of great examples of effective framing submitted for our
"Framed" assignment.) Adding a natural frame (or using vignetting as a frame) can also help to contain the viewer's gaze within the scene and keep their eyes from wandering off the edge of the composition. Sometimes however, when we want the viewer to perceive that the subject extends far beyond the boundaries of an image, adding a frame can be counterproductive.
When I composed my image for the Scale assignment, I wanted the viewer to perceive that the rock face extended well beyond the boundaries of the image, so I made the conscious decision to eliminate any elements that would frame or define the limits of the rock face. Here's one of my earlier attempts at the scene:
Climbers on Cathedral Spires, framed with trees in the foreground
Photographed by Keith
While not a bad composition, the trees in the foreground provide a defined limit to the height of the rocks. I wanted the viewer to be able to imagine the rock face was taller than it was, and so made a conscious decision to photograph from a different viewpoint and remove the "limits" in the following version of the image:
Climbers on Cathedral Spires
Composed to eliminate framing elements that limited the extent of the rock face.
The top of the tree nearest to the rock face is just below the edge of the frame in my second image. If I had included the top of the tree, this would have influenced the viewers perception of how tall rock face really was. Since I wanted the viewer to imagine a taller rock face, I removed any reference that would limit the viewer's imagination.
I used a similar rationale in composing the following image of wildflowers:
Lupine and Sunflowers, Robinson Basin, Colorado
The group of wildflowers in the foreground extended just barely beyond the edges of the frame. If I had framed the composition just a little wider, the viewer would have been able to see the actual extent of this group of wildflowers, and would have understood that this was only a small patch that bordered the road. I wanted the viewer to imagine that the flowers extended well beyond the left edge and forward of the frame, and so by filling the frame with wildflowers and cropping out the boundaries of the group, I allowed the viewer to imagine that I was standing in a large field of wildflowers.
Your assignment for the week of 4 - 10 October 2010 is "Removing Limits." You should strive to compose an image so that you are eliminating any natural limits from the scene in order to allow your viewer to imagine that the subject extends well beyond the boundaries of the frame. Please upload your images to the "Removing Limits" album in the Weekly Assignments category of the Gallery no-later-than midnight Mountain time (GMT - 07:00) on Sunday, 10 October 2010.
I'll look forward to seeing your images.
Keith
