Frames

Frames are a very powerful graphic technique to focus attention on a subject.  I made this portrait in Bagan, Burma of a novice monk, and I specifically looked for a niche in one of the ancient temples so he'd be framed by the stonework.  It is important to make sure the frame is as sharp as the subject because out of focus elements used to frame a subject will be distracting.  Sometimes photographers include overhanging branches to frame a landscape, for example, and if they are blurred due to lack of depth of field they will hurt the picture significantly.  Note in this portrait also that the lighting is diffused.  There are no harsh shadows or blown highlights.  Even though the sun was shining under a blue sky, I used a shaded portion of the architecture to take this shot.  Diffused light is best for outdoor portraits.  My settings for this picture were 1/125 at f/8 and 200 ISO.  I used a 24-105mm lens to make the shot.