Fill the Frame
Video: Fill the Frame
Challenge level
DIFFICULT
MODERATE
EASY
Main subject and supporting elements you might need
Good for scenes such as nature and portraits where the main subject fills the frame to showcase the subject in more detail.
Fill the Frame
When your photos feel as though they are missing something, maybe the opposite is true. You might be trying to capture too much in one image. One way to improve 99% of your photography is to fill the frame with your subject. A famous quote by celebrated war photographer and photojournalist Robert Capa sums this up perfectly: “If your photographs aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.” Rather than fitting lots of a scene into a photo, pick an area of importance and get closer until your iPhone screen is full of the main subject.
How Do You Fill the Frame?
The term ‘fill the frame’ means looking at your photographic subject on the screen of your iPhone and moving closer towards it or zooming in until the subject fills all of the screen. When taking a photo of a car, for example, you fit the car onto the screen without leaving any space in front of or after the automobile. This shows that your photo is definitely about this car. If you took a photo of a car that was surrounded by other vehicles in a parking lot, the viewer would have to be told which car you want them to look at. Filling the frame in this way is useful if you are selling the car, but if you want an artistic shot of this car, then fill the frame in other ways. Get closer and just photograph the front half, or get closer still until you only show the front grill or the manufacturer’s badge.
Fill the Frame for Portraits
Filling the frame has many benefits. It is valuable because the viewer has no doubts about what you want to show them, and it removes from the scene anything in the background that could be distracting. Getting close removes clutter from a photo, which immediately gives it more impact. This is especially true for portrait images. A portrait photo becomes stronger and more engaging when the eyes of the viewer are directed straight to the individual, rather than giving the viewer too much of an opportunity to admire the background instead.
With shots of people, unless you need to take a full-length image to show off their fashion style from head to toe, get closer! At the very least, fill the frame with their upper body. Or, for a more stylistic image, fill the frame with their shoulders and head only.
You’ll be surprised at how close you can get to your subject before you feel as though you’ve gone too far. When you first line up your subject on the screen of your iPhone, take a photo and then open the Wise Camera app. Set the ‘fill the frame’ composition rule and step closer, or zoom in to compose another shot with help from the guiding lines. Tap the screen to rotate the red guidelines until you have the image shape you need for your photo. Now compare the two images, and I guarantee you’ll like the second shot better.
Portrait Tip
When taking shots of people, make sure your iPhone is held upright, so the vertical rectangle matches the vertical nature of a person’s head and shoulders. This removes the excessive background and empty areas from the photo. Hold the iPhone horizontal if the person is reclining. A shot of a friend resting on a beach towel needs this horizontal format; otherwise, there’ll be too much space above and below their head. If you have snapped away at some friends without using the Wise Camera app, you can always crop afterward with the help of the Wise Photos app. Removing empty areas and zooming in closer to your subject makes the image much more appealing.
Final Words
Having a close-up image of your subject shows more detail and only includes features that are meaningful to the story you want to convey to the viewer. All other potential distractions are cropped away and left behind. A quote that is attributed to various famous sculptors suggests, “The only thing necessary to the creation of a great statue is to secure a large block of marble and chip off all that you don’t want.” This quote makes it clear that extra details in an image are not helpful. Portraits, food photography, and photos of flowers work better when you remember this artistic composition tip and fill the screen with your subject. Stepping away from a subject rarely makes your photos better because you are removing yourself from the detail and immediacy of the shot. If you want your photos to have a greater impact—get closer. Then get closer still!