Fill the frame

In photography, it’s often said that if you can’t make something good, make it big. By filling the frame with your subject there’s no mistaking your centre of interest – although good compositional techniques, such as placing a key feature on a point of power, still apply. If you’re finding it hard to get inspired by a scene, big, bold, confident framing is a great starting point for getting you fired up. Get in close, then get in closer still…

If you can’t get in close, expand the presence of your subject in the frame using reflections or shadows. This family seems to fill the entire frame, but they only occupy half of it.

Heads up

The most frequently shot frame-fillers are portraits; the power of eye contact and dramatic close-up focus make for some of the most arresting images. Simply pointing your lens at someone’s face and pressing the shutter release doesn’t guarantee a good result though. For a start, how much of the subject’s face do you want to be sharply rendered? Everything? If so, stop down the lens to a small aperture. Just the eyes? Go for a wide aperture – and make sure you nail the focus on the eyes. Not all the best portraits have an even balance between the features of the sitter’s face; often you’ll find that a much more ruthless crop in an image-editor gives a more dramatic result. Try positioning the image off to the side of the frame, with one eye on a point of power. Emphasise the texture of an old person’s face with angled lighting, and by converting the image to monochrome during post-production. Exaggerate features by using a wide-angle lens, and getting in twice as close (although your subjects may not thank you for it!).

Make use of clothing and props to help your subject ‘flesh-out’ the image. Leave a hint of background to give the impression that they’re almost too big for the frame.