Framing with People

Positioning people around the main subjects not only creates a frame, but also adds meaning to the frame. Framing with people and framing with meaning go hand in hand. There are two ways of framing with people.

In side-by-side framing, other people are placed next to or near the main subject with all of them within or close to the same focal plane. This technique creates a feeling of camaraderie, and it clearly displays somebody’s inner circle (11.11). As you can see in this photo, all the surrounding bridesmaids guide your eyes to the bride. The key is having people in front of, as well as behind, the bride. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a frame, and it would also be off-balance.

11.11. In this example of side-by-side framing, the surrounding bridesmaids guide your eyes to the bride.