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Frame Your Shot 4 (Functional Framing)

R9353093L (Ricoh GX200)

The name functional framing gives some hint about what it is used for -- mainly functionally to highlight your primary subjects or framed area.  This is roughly what most, if not all, photography technique books implies on this subject. But to the author, it will be even better to add an extra dimension to it -- not just to highlight but also to intensify the interest of the focal point.

The functional frame can be the actual frame confining the image of which today's shot is an example, or any object you can make use of on the spot. An example can be found here.

Before ending this week's framing technique series, there is one point worth mentioning. Framing is one of the composition techniques. It is fine to find GXG's categorisation of the framing techniques arbitrary, overlapping or just downright unconvincing.  Fact is, techniques are mixed together in action.  It is not easy to illustrate one technique with an image done in exactly that technique only; it can be done, but the example shots will all look bland, boring and uninspiring. For discussion's sake, the categorisation is a necessary evil, so to speak.

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