Lens Artists Photo Challenge #392 – Framing Your Shots: Exploring the Foreground, Middle, and Background

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For this challenge Patti asks us to focus on the photographic technique of framing the shot using the 3 grounds (or layers)—the foreground, the middle ground, and the background. She describes the 3 grounds like this:

Foreground: the part of the scene that’s closest to the camera. Think of it as the introduction to the scene and an invitation for the viewer to explore the image.

Middle Ground: the central area of your image, between the foreground and the background. It’s often where the main subject is located.

Background: the farthest point from the viewer. It provides the context and completes the visual “story.”

I wasn’t able to get out to practice this technique this week so I dug through my archives for some examples. I discovered I sometimes use this technique without even realizing it.

In this photo of Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World in Florida, the crowd creates the foreground showing a busy day at the park. The Castle in the middle ground is the main focus of the photo. The castle is framed in the background by buildings on either side and the clear blue sky behind the castle.

The following example was taken while on a train trip on the Alaska Railroad. The sky was clear when Mt. Mckinley (or Mt. Denali) came into view. The lake and green trees form the foreground. The mountain in the middle ground is the main subject. The blue sky is a perfect background for the image.

Mt. McKinley, also known as Mt. Denali, Alaska

The final example shows the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. The foreground is the green grass and bushes which are on the edge of the sand dunes. The middle ground is the sand dune which is the subject of the photo. If you look closely you can see the people who look like tiny dots on the sand indicating the enormous size of the dunes. The cloudy sky is the background.

Great Sand Dunes

Thank you to everyone who shared your great cell phone images for Tina’s challenge Phone Photography.

Many thanks to Patti for this week’s challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to Anne’s post Lens-Artists #392: Framing your Shots: Foreground, Middleground, Background.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, April 11 at noon eastern time when Sofia will be bringing us another challenge.

If you don’t want to miss any of our challenges you may want to think about subscribing to the Lens-Arrists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Len-Artists challenge please click here.

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35 thoughts on “Lens Artists Photo Challenge #392 – Framing Your Shots: Exploring the Foreground, Middle, and Background”

  7. Your images nail the challenge with wonderful subjects. The people inclusion in two of the shots gives a dimensional aspect of the scenes. I love the Denali photo. It brought back good memories for me. As for the closing shot, it is superb. People are like tiny ants.

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