Looking through the viewfinder: Fitting the frame to the subject

So we are on to the first exercise of 'Part 1, The Frame'. For this exercise on composition and framing, I drove my car to the top of a multi storey car park where there were no parked cars. As required by the exercise the first image was taken with very little (read 'no'!) thought. I simply parked the car, got out walked away and took the photo.

For the second picture the car had to fit the frame as tightly as possible without going beyond the edges. I took many images from lots of different angles and heights.The chosen image is from a lower point of view which is cutting out the buildings that could be seen over the wall if I had chosen a higher angle. The shape of the car did not allow me to fill the frame completely. This angle also makes the car more imposing.

In the third shot we move in close so that we cannot see any of the edges of the object. Again I took many shots but selected this one as it has an interesting angle to it.

Finally, I took a shot where the car only occupied a quarter of the frame. Again I moved about checking the view finder for a good composition. I then set about experimenting with various crops in Photoshop.

I found the close-up image was not really suited to cropping as, in a way, it already has been in the view finder. The first image is also difficult to crop into something interesting. I do like the crop of the final image though.

The last image cropped.

The car occupies about a quarter of the length of the frame. There are leading lines by way of the car park wall drawing us in to the picture from the left. I think there is a certain amount of tension between the car and the wall. The car stands out due to its shape not fitting with the rest of the image, whilst the wall is trying to dominate the shot with its strong lines and simply because there is so much of it!

After this... no more cars!