Day Six

Framing

Using the World Around You to Draw Focus and Create Depth**

Today you learn a tool that quietly turns simple photos into striking ones:

framing.

Framing is when you use elements in your environment to surround, highlight, or guide attention toward your subject.

It’s not about adding props.
It’s not about posing anything.
It’s noticing what already exists
and letting it support your composition.

Framing creates structure, depth, and intention without feeling forced.

What Framing Actually Is

Framing is using something in the scene to surround or direct attention toward your subject.

It can be:

• a doorway
• a window
• tree branches
• railings
• shadows
• curtains
• arches
• mirrors
• fences
• car windows
• staircases
• shelves
• the curve of someone’s arm
• the edge of furniture
• a reflection

It can be subtle or bold.
Soft or strong.
Straight or curved.

All that matters is that it helps guide the viewer’s eye to what matters.

Why Framing Works

Three reasons:

It directs attention immediately

Framing shows the viewer where to look — instantly and naturally.

It creates depth

Foreground frame → subject → background
Your image becomes layered and dimensional.

It adds story

Framing gives context.
A portrait shot through a doorway feels different from a portrait shot head-on.
A flower framed by leaves feels different from a flower floating alone.

Framing adds mood, even when the subject stays the same.

Types of Framing (Friendly, Not Technical)

Natural Framing

Trees, branches, foliage, rocks, water, shadows.

Architectural Framing

Doorways, windows, railings, hallways, arches.

Everyday Framing

Curtains, lamps, the back of a chair, a mug in the foreground, a blanket, objects on a shelf.

Human Framing

Arms, hair, hands, the curve of shoulders.

You don’t have to memorize any of this.
Just notice what already exists.

How to Use Framing Without Making It Look Forced

Framing should feel like a whisper, not a shout.

Here’s the gentle approach:

Find something that naturally surrounds the subject

Even partially is enough.

Move your camera slightly until the frame supports, not covers

A tiny shift — left, right, up, or down — can make the frame clean instead of messy.

Keep the frame slightly out of focus

Your subject should stay clear.
The frame can be soft.

Use framing to simplify the scene

Framing helps block distractions
and directs the eye where you want.

This is subtle composition mastery.

Using Framing with a Camera or iPhone

The technique is identical:

• find your frame
• put your subject inside it
• focus on your subject
• let the frame be soft, supportive, or partially blurred

The only difference:

iPhones widen the scene,
so framing elements often appear more dramatically and naturally.

This is a huge bonus for phone photography.

Today’s Practice: The Frame Hunt

Choose a simple subject — indoors or outdoors.

Now look around and find three different framing options in the same location.

Examples:

• shoot through a doorway
• shoot past a plant
• shoot under a staircase rail
• shoot between two objects
• shoot behind a curtain edge
• shoot through a window
• shoot past the back of a chair

Take three photos with the same subject, each using a different frame.

Photo 1 — Side Frame

Something on the left or right edge of the image.

Photo 2 — Top Frame

Something above your subject (a branch, a doorway, a shelf).

Photo 3 — Full Frame

Something creating a partial “window” around the subject
(doorway, arch, window, tunnel of leaves).

What You’ll Notice

The subject won’t change.
The light won’t change.
But the feeling will.

Framing adds:

• structure
• depth
• story
• focus
• character

Even the simplest subject becomes interesting when framed with intention.

Why This Matters

Framing is one of the moments where you stop looking at things
and start looking around them.

This is what photographers do.
It’s a shift in how you see the world —
and once you start seeing frames, you’ll never stop.

Tomorrow is Day Seven — The Week Four Closing,
wrapping up the most creatively transformative week so far.