Layers

Learning goal

You will be able to separate a scene into layers, as foreground, middle ground and background, to build depth in a two-dimensional frame. You will explain what each layer adds to the frame; you will recognize the cues that build a sense of depth, that is, overlap, difference in size, colors faded by distance, and differences in sharpness and light; you will add a foreground to the frame without blocking the subject; you will decide whether to put sharpness on all the layers or only on one; and when the layers are in different light, you will make sure the face of a person in the middle ground carries detail on every skin.

The question

You are in a mountain village, early in the morning. In front of you there is a cat sunning itself on top of a stone wall; a little farther on, a woman is hanging laundry in a garden; at the very back, mountains rising row after row out of the morning mist. First you photograph only the woman and the laundry: the frame is flat, like a mural. Then you crouch and bring the stone wall and the cat into the frame too; this time the gaze moves from the cat to the woman, from the woman to the mountains, and the frame opens inward.

How does a photograph gain depth? A photograph is a flat surface, but some frames look like a space you could walk into. In this lesson we will talk about the layers that build this feeling, the cues that separate layers from each other, and what to watch for when separating a scene into layers.

Context

We saw some of the things that make a scene look deep one by one in earlier lessons: nearby things looking much bigger than distant ones, distant mountains looking pale and blue because of the air, and sharpness being stretched from the front to infinity or narrowed to a single distance. Layers are the way to combine these deliberately inside a frame.

To separate a scene into layers, you divide it into three zones as it goes farther from the camera: the foreground closest to the camera, the middle ground where the subject usually stands, and the background farthest away. Not every photograph needs all three; some frames are stronger on a single plane. But when you want to give the feeling of looking into a space, layers are one of the most effective tools.

Simple explanation

What does each layer do?

The foreground is the door through which the gaze enters the frame. A stone, a branch, a fence, a flower or a person's shoulder close to the camera gives the viewer the feeling of standing in front of the scene and invites the gaze inside. The foreground usually sits at the bottom edge or in a corner of the frame and carries less importance than the subject; but without it the frame can look flatter.

The middle ground is usually where the photograph's subject stands: a person, a house, a tree. The gaze passes through the foreground and stops there. The background, on the other hand, gives the scene its context: mountains, a city, a sky, a horizon. It tells where the subject is, inside which world it stands. Together, the three layers tend to send the viewer's gaze on a journey from front to back; this journey builds a sense of space on a flat surface.

What separates the layers?

For layers to separate from each other, the viewer needs to perceive them at different distances, and a few cues provide this. Overlap is one of the strongest cues: when something standing in front covers part of what is behind, the eye understands right away which one is in front. Difference in size is the second cue: what is close to the camera looks big, and what is far looks small. Colors that fade and shift toward blue with distance also separate the background from the foreground, especially in misty or hazy weather.

Sharpness and light can separate layers too. In a shallow zone of sharpness, the foreground and background soften while the middle ground stays sharp, and the subject emerges between two soft layers. A difference in light does a similar job: a foreground in shadow, a sunny middle ground and a background lit by mist separate easily from each other thanks to their different brightness. If the layers are mixing into each other, strengthening one of these cues, for example sliding a step to the side to create an overlap or changing the sharpness, gives you layer separation.

How are layers built?

Finding a foreground usually calls for changing your viewpoint. Crouching, getting close to a wall or a branch, and shooting with a wide angle enlarges the nearby element in the frame and gives it the weight of a foreground. You also make sure the foreground is meaningful: a random object with nothing to do with the scene holds the viewer's gaze for nothing. The foreground shouldn't block the subject, and should leave room around the subject to breathe.

Where to put the sharpness is a decision too. If you want all the layers sharp, a narrow aperture and the hyperfocal distance do this job; everything from the cat to the mountains is readable. If you want only the middle ground sharp, a wide aperture softens the foreground and background and the subject stands out. The foreground staying a little soft often makes it easier for the gaze to reach the subject without getting caught on it; but a very soft and very bright foreground can distract attention like a smudge.

What happens if the layers are in different light?

Layers are often in different light: the foreground in the shadow of a wall, the middle ground in sun, the background bright in the mist. The camera's metering decides according to the biggest or brightest part of the frame, and this can lead to the subject in the middle ground being exposed wrongly. If a bright misty background fills the frame, the person in the middle ground can stay too dark; if a dark foreground fills the frame, the subject can come out too bright.

If the person in the middle ground is the frame's real subject, you need to build the exposure for their face. A brown-skinned face standing in the sun can darken under the weight of the bright mist; a light-skinned face can turn white under the weight of a shadowed foreground. Exposing for the face means accepting that the background opens up a little or the foreground darkens a little; this often makes the layers more distinct too. Checking with the histogram and a test frame how much detail each layer carries makes the decision easier.

Visual evidence

You go back to the mountain village. You crouch at the foot of the stone wall and, with a wide-angle lens, bring the cat on top of the wall into the bottom left corner of the frame. The cat is big and close; its gray fur and the edges of its ears shine in the morning sun. The woman, dark-skinned, with a colorful headscarf, hangs a white sheet on the clothesline in the middle ground; one edge of the sheet falls behind the cat's tail, and this overlap shows right away that the woman is farther back than the cat. Behind, the mountains rise out of the mist in blue layers that grow paler as they go farther away.

The camera first meters for the bright mist and the woman's face stays dark. When you move spot metering to her cheek, the camera asks for one stop more light; the mist turns a little whiter, but the woman's face, the line of her eyebrows and her fingers holding a clothespin can be read. With a narrow aperture you keep sharpness from the cat to the mountains. In the frame the gaze moves from the cat's fur to the woman's face, and from there to the misty mountains. The same village morning; what built the depth was crouching, an overlap and the exposure decision made for the face.

Common mistakes

Summary

Layers build a sense of space in a flat frame by separating the scene, as it goes farther from the camera, into foreground, middle ground and background: the foreground invites the gaze inside, the middle ground usually carries the subject, and the background gives context. Overlap, difference in size, colors faded by distance, and differences in sharpness and light separate the layers from each other; the foreground should be meaningful and shouldn't block the subject, and sharpness can be put on all the layers or only on one. When the layers are in different light, the exposure is built, on every skin, for the face of the person in the middle ground.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will photograph a scene by separating it into layers.

1. Photograph a scene first with only its subject, then crouching and adding a meaningful foreground, and compare the depth of the two frames.
2. Build an overlap where an element in the foreground covers part of the subject in the middle ground.
3. Photograph the same layered scene once with a narrow aperture so all the layers are sharp, and once with a wide aperture so only the middle ground is sharp.
4. In a scene whose layers are in different light, photograph a person in the middle ground twice: once leaving the camera free, once putting spot metering on their cheek.

Check yourself

• Did the frame where you added a foreground look deeper than the frame with only the subject?
• Did the overlap make the order of the layers readable right away?
• Can the eyebrows and fingers of the person in the middle ground be made out between the mist and the shadow?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What is the main job of the foreground in a frame?

• A) Giving the scene its context
• B) Inviting the gaze into the frame and giving the viewer the feeling of standing in front of the scene
• C) Hiding the subject
• D) Setting the exposure

2. What is it called when something standing in front covers part of what is behind?

• A) Overlap
• B) Rhythm
• C) Aerial perspective
• D) Proportion

3. What do you do to have all the layers sharp, from the cat to the misty mountains?

• A) Use a wide aperture
• B) Raise the ISO
• C) Use a narrow aperture and the hyperfocal distance
• D) Get very close with a long lens

4. If the face of a dark-skinned person in the middle ground stays dark because of a bright misty background, what do you do?

• A) Taking the mist out of the frame is a must
• B) Take the cat out of the frame
• C) Remove the foreground
• D) Take the metering from the woman's cheek and accept the mist turning a little whiter

Answers

1. B — The foreground is the door through which the gaze enters the frame, and it starts the sense of depth.
2. A — Overlap is a strong depth cue that lets the eye understand right away which thing is in front.
3. C — A narrow aperture and the hyperfocal distance spread sharpness from near to infinity.
4. D — Because the mist is the brightest and widest part of the frame, it pulls the meter to itself; moving the metering to the cheek brings the woman out of the dark.

Summary card

• The foreground invites, the middle ground carries the subject, the background gives context.
• Cues that separate layers: overlap, size, color, sharpness, light.
• Crouch and get close to the foreground; it should be meaningful and not block the subject.
• Sharpness: all sharp or only the middle ground; the decision is yours.
• In layers with different light, build the exposure for the face in the middle ground on every skin.

Bridge to the next lesson

To bring the cat into the foreground, you crouched at the foot of the stone wall. This small move didn't only enlarge the cat; it also showed the woman hanging laundry from a little below, against the sky. If you had photographed the same scene from the top of a staircase, from above, the woman, the garden and the laundry would have looked a different way. How does crouching change a photo? The next lesson talks about point of view, and how a low and a high angle tend to show a subject differently.