Now for something different … it turns out that our fingers can be used for more applications than you thought possible.  One of those has to do with photographic composition!

Extend your hands in front of your face. Take your two thumbs and forefingers and form the letter “L” while folding down your remaining fingers. Bring your thumbs together so they touch.  Now you have created three sides of a viewing frame (you can imagine where the top piece is). I think this is harder to describe than it is to do!

Hold your hands close to your face and look through them to compose your subject; now it’s a wide-angle view. Move them away; the further you go the more narrow the angle of view.

If you are only using one lens move forward or backwards, or just stand where you are depending on what you want to do. Using a 50mm like I do, a few steps forward is like having a short telephoto; a few steps back is a 35mm. Have a few lenses? Then you know which one to choose.

I demonstrate this to all me students and they marvel as to how useful this simple technique is. It costs nothing, it’s completely portable, you don’t have to carry anything extra in your camera bag, and you will never forget to bring it with you!  Of course you can always cut a window out of a piece of mat board that’s stored in your bag, but why bother? This wonderful little tool can be vitally important to proper framing of a subject, doing wonders for your composition. Funny how the simplest of things can contribute to great improvements in our work!

Try it!