Telling A Story

To tell a story effectively with a photo, a useful tool can be framing. It’s a way of drawing the viewer’s eye towards the tale you would like to tell. On a recent edit I started with this file:

ISO 250 f/11 1/100 sec 28mm

It was a beautiful scene, but even as I shot it, I knew editing would help me get to what I really wanted to show, which is this:

ISO 250 f/11 1/100 sec 28mm

I am currently using a Canon 80D as my main body. I’m happy with it but I have noticed that it is better to shoot an image underexposed rather than perfectly exposed or overexposed. Now, in general, that was true of my 50D as well, but I feel like it is more pronounced with this camera. I shoot in RAW, so even though the original file is dark, there is a lot of detail there.

Since this is really a post about framing, I will stick with talking about how I approached this shot. While shooting this file, I went ahead and took in as much of the scene as possible. My first edit, in this case, was a crop. I’ve left plenty of water and vegetation around the waterfall for context. I then used the vignette to help with the framing. I set the center at the closest visible water convergence. This should lead your eye to the most dynamic part of the image and allow the rocks and vegetation play their supporting role. So a crop and a vignette, two of the more basic edits, but an effective way to create a frame. Do you agree? Feel free to leave a comment below about this approach or its outcome below.

Regular readers will know I fell out of the blogosphere about a month ago. While it wasn’t an entirely planned break, I’m grateful to say it was a happy one. It included a two-week road trip in Europe. The photo above was taken during this time and is part of the Edelfrauengrab Waterfall in Germany’s Black Forest region. I’m happy to be back and look forward to catching up with my fellow bloggers.

Cheers!

Added to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Framing the Shot.