Post 477: Composition Part 7. Use of Subject Focus Filling the Frame

Composition Part 7. Use of Subject Focus Filling the Frame

This is Part 7 of 21 of my series on Composition

Another composition trick or tip is to bring your subject into the foreground with the full focus on really zeroing or zooming in on the subject so the he/she/it fills the frame in a purposeful way. It could mean that some cropping happens to take out unnecessary background "noise", perhaps too much extra sky above or the street/water below, and/or buildings on the sides. 

Bring your subject closer by filling the frame tighter to focus on that subject. Here is a photo I took of the Belmont Bay Marina, Occoquan, VA in 2020 to try to give you an example although the actual focused "subject" is debatable...

I cut out my shadow and a lot of the big blue sky, really tightened up the photo above. Maybe looking at the images of the gazebo at Belmont Bay is a better example (below).

The original picture above

The original picture zoomed in but still a lot of sky, tree, foreground.

The original picture zoomed in more - now the focus is really on the gazebo and a good part of the 'nonsense' is cropped out. Get the picture? (pun intended)

Try zooming in on your design to fill the frame, or canvas with your next composition.

By the way, this is the painting I did of the Belmont Bay Marina at Occoquan, Virginia that day, although it was more about the Marina than a focus in on something. You can see the gazebo to the right in the distance.

 

"Belmont Bay Marina, Occoquan, Virginia" by Donna Liguria, Acrylic 16x20

This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

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Author: Donna Liguria  is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.

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