A good photograph is knowing where to stand. – Ansel Adams

A lot of times when we take a motorcycle pictures or any picture for that matter we just put the camera up to our eye and click away.  Ansel Adams said though, “A photograph is not an accident – it is a concept.” If you want to be a good photographer it is going to require a little thought before pushing the button. We’ve learned now that we have to get down low first and then position the subject in our photo and one way of positioning the subject is to put it on the intersecting lines in the Rule of Thirds. But there is another way. It’s called “filling the frame.” You still want to keep the Rule of Thirds in mind, but in this method you want to get rid of all the distractions and really hone in on your subject. You simply fill the frame with whatever you are taking a picture of and leave out the rest. Simple, right? Yes, but we seldom do it. All it really requires though is a little thought and movement before pushing the button. You have to get close to fill the frame or zoom in.

Filling the Frame

This filling the frame goes for bikes, cars, people, you name it. I recently was at my son’s graduation and my mom and daughter wanted me to take a picture of them. The first thing I did was point the camera at them and shoot. I didn’t move closer, I didn’t get down a little lower than them, I didn’t do any of the things I’m telling you to do. I wasn’t in the professional mind-set. I was just documenting they were both there. Then I said to myself, “What are you doing?”  Here I am telling you guys how to take better photos and I just violate my top three rules. So I told them to get back together and I would try it again. I squated down a little, moved in close, to which they both protested your to close, and filled the frame. They just kept insisting your to close, but when I showed them the difference between the two shots they both agreed the second was  much better. The moral of the story is think a little and move a little, that is the fifth secret to better photos.

The other choice you have is to crop the image. Here is an example of a photo that does a fairly good job at putting the subject on one of the Rule of Third lines. But what if we wanted to crop this image so we filled the frame?

Rule of Thirds

You would get something that looked like this. Each photo has its own feel, its own emotion. The one above is a more joyous photo with all the saturated colors that are included in it. The one below more elegant and  glamorous I would say. It’s to bad I couldn’t have gotten her attention before taking the shot. I would have loved to have had her looking at me. But the reality is I was running down the street trying to get this one and it was all I got.

Just remember it is all about what emotion you are trying to capture with your photo as to how you might decide to crop it.

When taking a photo of a bike it is often difficult to get the whole bike in the picture without getting a lot of other stuff above and below it. This can be solved by using a wide angle lens, but you can also position yourself at a angle to the bike and fill the frame.

Filling the Frame

All the distractions are gone in this photo and the frame is filled with nothing but your subject.

By Tim Wemple © 2010
www.BikeRallyPhotography.com
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