In photography, capturing a subject is only half the battle; the real challenge lies in telling a story that draws the viewer in. Your approach to composition and understanding how to frame each element in your shot can make or break that impact, and it’s crucial to get this right to elevate your work from simple pictures to meaningful visual narratives.
Coming to you from James Popsys, this thoughtful video explores the idea of creating "photos about things, not of things." Popsys doesn’t merely document the scenes he photographs; he discusses what he calls “context without distractions.” As he scours the Welsh coastline for the perfect angle of a seaside chapel, Popsys focuses on building the story around the chapel, emphasizing the need for both a subject and supporting elements that enhance it without detracting from the main focus. His advice is simple but impactful: including elements that support the main subject adds depth, but cluttering the frame with distractions weakens the story you’re trying to tell.
Popsys also emphasizes curiosity as the driving force behind his photography. For him, it’s not just about pressing the shutter for a well-lit scene or impressive landscape; it’s about finding those moments that invite questions. His goal is to create images that feel incomplete, encouraging the viewer to wonder about the story behind the shot. Standing in front of the chapel, he explains his preference for images that provoke more questions than answers—images that are rich with mystery and hint at a larger narrative just outside the frame.
Popsys’ insights on composition reinforce how simplicity can amplify a photograph’s impact. By stripping away distractions and focusing only on elements that add to the subject, you maintain a balance that makes each part of the image feel intentional. In his case, this means framing the chapel with just enough of the surrounding landscape to show its unique placement near the sea without losing sight of its architectural significance. It’s about maintaining a delicate balance where the setting provides context but doesn’t overwhelm the central subject. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Popsys.
You are on the right track or your view! The key is the Photographers Eye and how well it is trained! not really about like or dislike but of the framing, as you finally came to see. A photographer see's what others do not the difference between a tourist capture and a full story of and around a subject. One can walk around a place framing each image BUT with an eye your on board computer has the many compositions that is like shown in photo school or on your own study, the many many. It is also the many Golden Ratio positions that can be done in post BUT to see with ones eye as you hold and scan about and your brains light bulb lights up.
But you were correct to walk about and see the many more for very few can do a one capture and be done where as you slap the back of ones head and think i should of got more, it's digital and sorta free not like the film days. also there are those things the camera captures you do not see!!!! Also post processing lets you enhance like the sky or even the texture of things and colors etc..
It is like a milky way above a subject for you can not see it up there but some key star formations to aim at.
Or a capture where you forget your aperture is at f/22 and you are bracketing and in post you see a ghost from the past in the sand for the sharpness of only f/22t he camera captures again the unseen.
Again a camera setting gets you blurred water without filters.
The last unseen by many millions the many photographers walking by at an entrance or is it a gift from something, the last is a capture where it appears that a horses head to the left and it's rider to the right with a native inside telling kind of like an alive image. Not even the native tour guide photographer ever noticed in all the years giving tours. Just right place and time and of course several captures and good software later really shows it. And the many faces in the rock wall a grand story!