Examining Your Frame | Guest Blog by Colie James

This is where I tell you to SLOW down and really look at your frame before you shoot.   Just like some people take a shot to then review their settings and adjust, the same can be true of the elements of your frame.  Take a shot and re-evaluate the frame.  If you can identify any objects that don't belong remove them.  If they can't be physically removed then it is your responsibility to either move your subject or reposition yourself to eliminate distracting elements from the image.  

My biggest pet peeve in my living room are my lamp and that recliner.  I hate that recliner.  No really, HATE.  For planned shoots in the living room earlier this year I would push it into the dining room or even the kitchen to get it out of my living room.  Now, my daughter simply will not allow it.  She LOVES sitting on the recliner during the day.  There is no need for the lamp during the day so I try to remember to remove it first thing in the morning.  If I forget, I usually remember when I am looking at the back of the camera because it is quite an eyesore for me.  It is also pretty common to slide the coffee table over to the area in front of the fireplace leaving a nice open space for Chloe to play in and a clean frame for me to shoot in.

Here are some nice clean images taken once the room is rearranged.

 What do I do with the permanent elements that can't be removed?  Namely the wall outlets or the air vent on the floor.  Well, with my lens I can try to shoot in a direction that eliminates them from my frame or when that doesn't work shooting at a wider aperture so they are not as noticeable.  I also have the option of removing them in post processing but that isn't always easy.  This picture of my daughter would look SO much better with the vent removed but it is no easy feat.  I might "fix" that someday.

What about the temporary items that are in the frame but do not relate to the story?  Typically these are toys that Chloe was playing with and they don't play a part in my story.  I have learned to wait until she leaves the room to clean up the room, otherwise she literally walks behind me putting the toys I am picking up exactly where I found them.  I swear the kid LOVES mess.

 Sometimes it just takes too much effort to clean the room.  Look at these two images.  The first is a moment between my husband and daughter.  She is wearing her new big girl panties and showing him her guitar.  Such a sweet moment.  The frame is certainly not clean, but everything in it has meaning.

For this second image, the story here is that her old stroller has become her new personal recliner.  Admittedly there is a lot of clutter in this image that does not add to the story.   It was my anniversary and I just did not want to clean the frame.  This image still tells a story, but the clutter is distracting.  What about for you, do you ever shoot and leave the clutter?

Thanks for reading.

By Colie James – Boulder, Colorado

Colie is a storytelling lifestyle photographer based in Boulder, Colorado serving all areas between Ft. Collins and Denver. She is an on-location photographer who loves to tell the true stories of her clients, just as they are. She also writes a weekly blog column for LIght Inspired sharing her own work and others.  While her love of photography started long before the birth of her daughter, Chloe, it has taken on a life of its own as she strives to capture all of her own moments and now her clients. Colie equally loves espresso, her husband of twelve years, James, and her daughter who is two going on twenty.

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