Don't forget the edge of your frame in your next photograph

So much of photography is training yourself to overcome the way the brain influences the data coming in from your eye: you get used to colour casts and think blue is white because it should be, your eyes adjust to the dark and you think it's brighter than it really is, and you don't notice the telegraph pole sticking out of someone's head because you were concentrating on their face.

The edge of the frame is the most overlooked and underloved part of any image. Your brain wants you to give all your attention to the middle of the shot: this is where the important stuff is happening. But the middle of the frame is a surprisingly small percentage of the total. In this shot of a jug of flowers, the blue shaded area takes up less than half of the whole shot (42%), leaving 58% to be carried by the background and edges of the frame:

Your brain exaggerates the importance of the centre of the frame, and persuades you to ignore the rest of the shot. And whilst the subject is usually fairly central, give or take a bit of asymmetric placing, it is the edge of the frame that dictates the tone of the image.

It is critical that you learn to override the brain when it comes to the edge of the frame. You need to consciously, deliberately direct your attention to what's going on at the periphery of your image. And not just to check there are no distractions (people in red jackets, telegraph poles coming out of heads), but to decide what mood you want and how the edge of frame action will influence that.

Influential anchors

If you've done my Composition - Beyond the Basics course (it runs once a year usually in September), you'll be familiar with this concept. It's not really an official term, it's just a way of thinking about whether the edge of your frame anchors the composition or not. If a solid graphic element leaves the frame, then you can think of it as an anchor. If you just have "fresh air" leaving the frame, then there is no anchor.

This shot has an anchor on the right of the frame where the ice leaves the shot:

Compare it to this shot, which has no subject anchors at the edge of the frame, just fresh air:

Neither shot is "right" nor "wrong". Neither shot is better than the other. But can you see that the second shot is maybe a bit less claustrophic, a bit more serene? Conversely the first shot is slightly more dynamic and a bit unfinished.

Being deliberate

Be deliberate about what is happening at the edge of your frame. It doesn't matter so much what is happening, so long as you intended it to happen:

What's leaving the frame?
What effect does that have on the tone of your image?
Is that what you wanted?
Could you improve the shot by changing the edges, without spoiling the central area?
One final check for any distractions.

Try this

Take the following six shots where you have a visual anchor (a solid part of the shot leaving the frame) in each of the following places:

- all 4 edges

- any 3 edges

- 2 symmetrical edges (top/bottom or left/right)

- 2 asymmetric edges (eg. top/left, or top/right)

- 1 single edge

- no edges

For example in the shots below, the first has anchors on 2 symmetrical edges (left and right). The middle has 3 edges (left, bottom and right). And the last shot has all 4 edges.

Free beginner’s photography lessons

The email version of my online course A Year With My Camera is free. Join here and get started today:

Click here to subscribe