Foreground and depth

Learning goal

In a landscape, you will be able to use a close element, a rock, a log or ripple marks in the sand, as a piece that carries the frame's depth. You will see that when you bring the camera close to the ground with a wide-angle lens and move a few steps in on the close element, that element grows, the distant mountain shrinks and the distance between them opens up to the eye. You will decide consciously how much of the frame to give the foreground and at what height of the frame to put the horizon. You will notice and prevent shapes that stretch near the edges, trees that lean back when the camera tilts up, and the close element sticking to a distant line. If there is a person in the frame, you will keep them away from the frame's edge, and make sure that, at an angle looking up, their face and skin don't go dark in front of a bright sky.

The question

Your friend opens the lakeside frame again. The moon is on the mountain's shoulder, the clouds are pink, but the lower half of the frame is an empty, dark water surface. The next week they return to the same shore. The big mossy rock at their feet is still there; its surface full of cracks, orange lichens on one side. Standing up, the rock stays in the frame like a small, unimportant spot; it has no relationship with the mountain. They lower the camera and look at both for a while. What is that rock doing in the landscape?

Context

In the composition lessons you saw that the layer closest to the camera in a frame invites the gaze into the frame (Lesson 14.5). In the lenses section you also worked out that when shot close up with a wide angle the background recedes and shrinks, that is, that perspective comes not from the lens but from the viewpoint (Lesson 12.4). You know from the point of view lesson that lowering the camera below the subject enlarges the subject and makes the sky the backdrop (Lesson 14.6).

This lesson brings those three ideas together in landscape. In the previous lesson you saw that the eye reads depth in a flat frame from cues; overlap and difference in size are the strongest of these cues. Both work only when there is something close in the frame. Finding a close element in a landscape isn't hard: a rock, a bush, a ripple mark in the sand, a wooden jetty. The real work is to enlarge and place that element enough in the frame to make it speak with the distant landscape.

Simple explanation

How do near and far speak?

A near-far composition is a way of making the distance felt by showing a very close element and a very distant landscape in a frame at the same time. Standing and looking at the rock on the lakeshore, the rock is about two meters away, the mountain several kilometers; the rock stays small in the frame. When you lower the camera to half a meter from the rock, the rock has come four times closer and grows four times larger in the frame, while the mountain's distance hardly changes. The rock fills the lower half of the frame, the mountain shrinks behind it and the gap between them opens up to the eye.

This effect becomes pronounced with a wide-angle lens, because a wide angle fits both the close rock and the lake and mountain behind it into the same frame. The lens being wide isn't enough on its own; what builds depth is moving in on the close element. A frame shot with the same wide angle standing and from afar still stays a flat strip. Bringing the camera close to the ground and looking from a low angle carries the rock's texture, cracks and lichens into the frame; the rock stops being a spot and becomes a place.

How much room is given to the foreground?

Foreground share is how much of the frame is set aside for the close element. There is no right ratio for this share; the decision depends on what the frame wants to tell. If the rock covers half the frame, the frame tells the rock's texture and shape, the mountain becomes a backdrop. If the rock stays in a small corner of the frame, the mountain and sky dominate, and the rock gives only a measure and a starting point. Both decisions can work; what matters is that the share is a choice, not an accident.

Horizon placement is at what height of the frame the horizon line is put. If the foreground is strong and the thing to be told is on the ground, the horizon moves toward the upper part of the frame; if the sky is striking, if there are pink clouds or a rising moon, the horizon comes down and less room is left for the foreground. A vertical framing often opens more room than a horizontal one for stacking the close element and the distant mountain one above the other. A level horizon rests the eye in every case.

What are the wide angle's traps?

A wide-angle lens, shot close up, stretches shapes near the frame's edges. A rock lengthens at the edge, a person's face or arm widens. That is why, if there is a person in the frame, keeping them away from the edge, closer to the middle of the frame, shows them in their own shape. Tilting the camera up makes trees and towers lean backward; if you want to keep trees upright, holding the camera level and cropping the framing afterward if needed helps.

When the close element exactly touches a distant line, the two shapes stick together: the top of the rock runs tangent to the mountain's ridge and the eye reads the two as a single shape. Raising or lowering the camera a few centimeters leaves a gap between the rock and the mountain. At a low angle, when a person falls in front of a bright sky, the camera is exposed for the sky and darkens their face; on dark skin this can go as far as the complete loss of detail. Turning the face to side light or setting the exposure for the skin of the face keeps it in its own color.

Visual evidence

First your friend stands and shoots, leaving the rock at the bottom of the frame. The rock is a small gray spot; the lake wide and empty, the mountain in the middle. There isn't much difference between this frame and the previous week's.

Then they lower the camera to knee height, switch to the wide angle and move in about half a meter from the rock. The rock fills the lower third of the frame; its cracks, orange lichens and the moss wet at the water's edge can be made out. One of the rock's cracks stretches toward the far end of the lake, toward the mountain. The lake opens up behind the rock, the mountain has shrunk behind but rises toward the sky. The horizon is in the upper part of the frame; the moon stands on the mountain's shoulder.

On the first try, the top of the rock exactly touches the mountain's ridge. They lower the camera a few centimeters and a thin strip of water opens between the two. The woman walking with them on the shore, her skin dark brown, has her face stretched while at the frame's right edge; she comes a few steps inward, and her face stays in the side light and in its own warm color.

Common mistakes

Summary

The job of the rock on the lakeshore is to make the distance between near and far felt in the frame; this happens through a near-far composition built by bringing the camera close to the ground with a wide-angle lens and moving in on the rock. The foreground share and horizon placement are chosen according to what the frame will tell; edge stretching, leaning trees and tangent shapes are prevented, and the person in the frame is shown away from the edge and with their skin in its own color.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will photograph a single landscape from two different heights.

1. In an open landscape, find a close element with clear texture: a rock, a log, a bush or ripple marks in the sand.
2. First shoot a frame standing and two meters from the element, then shoot the close frame with a wide angle, lowering the camera to knee height and moving in about half a meter on the element.
3. In the close frame, check whether the element touches a distant line, and if needed shoot again by shifting the camera; if someone is in the frame, bring them in from the edge and expose for their face.

Check yourself

• In the frame you shot close up, can the distance between the close element and the distant landscape be felt?
• Did you choose the foreground share and the horizon's place consciously?
• Does the face of the person in the frame look unstretched and their skin not darkened?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What most makes the rock grow in the frame?

• A) Stopping down the aperture
• B) Bringing the camera closer to the rock
• C) Raising the ISO
• D) Using a long lens and stepping back

2. If there is a strong foreground and a plain sky, where can the horizon go?

• A) Exactly in the middle, always
• B) Outside the frame
• C) Near the upper part of the frame
• D) At the very bottom of the frame

3. What happens when the top of the rock exactly touches the mountain's ridge?

• A) The lake looks wider
• B) The sky brightens
• C) The rock and the mountain read more clearly as separate
• D) The two shapes read as a single shape

4. Why is a person kept away from the edge in a frame shot with a wide angle?

• A) Because at the edge their face and arms can stretch and widen
• B) Because colors disappear at the edge
• C) Because there is no sharpness at all at the edge
• D) Because it is a rule not to put people at the edge

Answers

1. B — As you approach the rock its distance shrinks and it grows in the frame, while the mountain's distance hardly changes.
2. C — If the thing to be told is on the ground, the horizon goes up and more room is left for the foreground.
3. D — Tangent shapes stick together; shifting the camera a few centimeters opens a gap between them.
4. A — Shot close up, a wide angle stretches shapes near the frame's edges.

Summary card

• The rock is where depth begins: lower the camera, move in on the close element.
• The wide angle fits it in; closeness builds depth.
• Foreground share and horizon place are a choice, not a rule.
• Open tangents, don't lean trees, don't stretch people at the edge.
• At a low angle, expose the face for its skin, not for the sky.

Bridge to the next lesson

When your friend enlarges the frame shot from a low angle, they see a problem: the rock's lichens are sharp but the mountain's ridge is soft; in another frame, when they focus on the mountain, this time the rock is blurred. How will they keep half a meter and several kilometers sharp in the same frame? A landscape sharp from front to back is the next lesson's subject: where to focus, which aperture to choose, and combining several frames where a single frame isn't enough.