Travel Photography | Taj Mahal | Within The Frame
© 2010 Wazari Wazir | Taj Mahal | Agra India
Framing is one of many technique in photography where a photographer try to draw the attention of the viewer to the main subject, which in this case the Majestic Taj Mahal. In this case I use UWA or Ultra Wide Angle Lens 10-20mm to frame this picture, without UWA lens, I don’t think I will get to frame Taj Mahal like this. It is natural for UWA lens to have a little bit of distortion, it’s normal, so I really don’t mind so much about the distortion.
Among few things that you should take into consideration when framing your shot is, if possible find a foreground that a little bit darker than the main subject so it help to frame your main subject nicely without taking away the point of interest of your main subject. It is also good if you can find a frame that have connection or relation to your main subject like this mosque archway which is located to next to the Taj Mahal.
Sometimes if we try to frame a brighter subject from a darker foreground, taking exposure can be a bit tricky, what I normally do is to use Spot Meter in the camera to take a reading from the main subject and just let the foreground underexposed, the foreground is only for framing so it doesn’t matter if it is underexposed as long as the main subject get a good exposure. That’s the point of framing, to draw viewers attention from the framing towards the main subject.
We spent more than four hours inside Taj Mahal and take as many shot as possible from all kind of angle that we can think of, and framing is one of them, it is good practice to do your homework before coming here or anywhere in the world so you can have some basic ideas about composition, it will save you a lot of times because you know exactly what you are looking for and after taking “postcard shot” that you saw in travel brochure or magazine be free to find some other interesting angle that you have never seen in the magazine. A place like Taj Mahal has been photograph more than a millions of times but still there are plenty of interesting angle await to be discovered.
Like for an example I want to have that star burst effect in the frame so I try to compose my shot so I try to find an angle where I can get the sun as close as possible to the edge of the archway and by using a small aperture at f/18, I manage to get this star burst effect. The tips is to get the sun as close as possible at the edge of the archway, just a bit of it, if it was too much, then you won’t get this kind of effect, actually you can see the result inside the camera while adjusting your composition.
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