Real‑world examples of creating depth with framing techniques

Let’s start where most of us actually shoot: streets, sidewalks, and travel spots. Some of the best examples of creating depth with framing techniques happen in completely ordinary places.

Think about standing under a city archway, aiming your camera toward a busy street beyond. The arch becomes a dark, solid frame in the foreground. The people and cars are in the midground. Distant buildings fade slightly into haze in the background. You’ve just created three clear layers, and the viewer’s eye naturally travels through them.

Another classic example of framing in street photography: shooting through railings. You might crouch down and let a fence, stair railing, or balcony edge blur softly at the edges of the frame. That subtle blur is your foreground frame, giving a sense of “peeking in” on the scene and adding depth without screaming, “Look, I’m a frame!”

Travel photographers use this constantly. A common example of depth with framing is shooting a famous landmark through something local and textured: a café doorway, a curtain, a market stall opening. The viewer doesn’t just see the landmark; they feel the surrounding environment because of that frame.

Nature and Landscape: Organic examples of creating depth with framing techniques

Nature is full of ready‑made frames. Some of the best examples of examples of creating depth with framing techniques come from landscapes, where you can build depth with trees, rocks, and branches.

Imagine you’re at a national park. Instead of stepping right up to the edge of the canyon and pointing your camera straight out, you back up a few feet and let an overhanging tree branch slice across the top of the frame. Maybe there’s a rock or bush in the lower corner. Those foreground elements frame the canyon vista and instantly add depth.

Other real examples include:

• Standing inside a forest and shooting out toward a clearing, using two tree trunks on either side as vertical frames.
• Using tall grasses or wildflowers close to the lens, slightly out of focus, to frame a sharp mountain peak in the distance.
• Composing a lake scene where a curved shoreline or leaning tree frames the reflection of the mountains.

Landscape photographers often talk about “foreground interest,” and framing is a natural extension of that idea. By placing something close to the lens—branches, rocks, leaves—you create a sense of distance between that frame and the background, which our brains read as depth.

For more on how our eyes perceive depth and perspective, the basic visual perception research from institutions like Harvard’s Vision Sciences Lab is a helpful rabbit hole if you’re curious about the science behind the feeling.

Architecture and Urban Scenes: Strong geometric examples of depth

Cities are a playground for framing. Straight lines, repeating patterns, and bold shapes can give you some of the best examples of creating depth with framing techniques.

Picture yourself in a subway station. You stand near the entrance and shoot down the platform. The entrance arch, ceiling beams, or overhanging signs form a strong frame around the scene. The receding lines of the platform and tracks pull the eye deeper, adding perspective depth.

Other powerful urban examples of framing for depth:

• Shooting a skyline through a hotel balcony door, using the doorframe and curtains as soft edges.
• Framing a street scene through the opening of a parking garage, with the darker interior framing the brighter outside world.
• Using overhead bridges or elevated walkways as top frames, with the street below as your midground and high‑rises as your background.

In 2024, you see a lot of this on social media: creators shooting through stairwells, escalators, and even car windows to give that layered, cinematic feel. The key is to let the architectural frame occupy a clear foreground position so the viewer feels like they’re standing just behind it.

Portraits: Human‑centered examples of creating depth with framing techniques

Portraits can easily look flat if you just place someone against a wall and shoot straight on. Framing changes that.

One of the most effective examples of creating depth with framing techniques in portrait work is using doorways. Place your subject a few feet inside a room and shoot from the hallway. The doorframe becomes a dark, soft border; your subject sits in the midground; the room behind them provides background context. Three layers, instant depth.

Other portrait‑friendly examples include:

• Shooting a subject through a window from outside, using reflections and the window frame to layer the scene.
• Using foliage—like leaves or flowers—very close to the lens as a blurred frame around the subject’s face.
• Having the subject hold an object (like a book or hands forming a circle) close to the camera, framing part of their own face.

If you’re photographing couples or families, you can even use people as frames. One example of this: focus on a child in the center, with the parents’ shoulders or arms slightly out of focus in the foreground, creating a natural human frame.

Portrait photographers often lean on these techniques because depth not only makes the image more engaging, it also helps isolate the subject emotionally. The frame says, “Look here; this is the person that matters.”

Creative and Experimental: Playful examples of depth with framing

Some of the most memorable photos come from playful, slightly weird framing choices. Here are a few creative examples of creating depth with framing techniques you can try:

• Shooting through objects: Hold up a glass, a mesh fabric, or even a kitchen colander close to the lens. Let it blur into abstract shapes that frame your subject behind it.
• Using shadows as frames: Position your subject so that a shadow from a window grid or railing falls around them, creating a frame of light and dark.
• Layering screens and reflections: In 2024, photographers are experimenting a lot with shooting through phone screens, laptop screens, and reflective surfaces. For example, you can frame a city scene inside the reflection on a café table, with the table edge acting as a subtle frame.

Street and documentary photographers also use crowds as living frames. One strong example of this: focus on a single person in the middle of a busy festival, with other people’s shoulders and heads blurred in the foreground. The crowd becomes a moving, organic frame that gives the photo energy and depth.

If you’re interested in how visual storytelling and framing affect attention and memory, resources on visual communication from places like the National Institutes of Health and Stanford’s communication research can give you more context on why these layered images tend to stick in our minds.

Using foreground blur for depth: A subtle but powerful example

One of the quiet best examples of framing for depth is simply using shallow depth of field. When you place something close to the lens and let it blur, it becomes a soft, atmospheric frame.

For instance, imagine shooting a musician on stage from the audience. You hold your camera low so that the heads and shoulders of people in front of you blur into shapes at the bottom of the frame. The musician, sharply in focus, appears further away and more three‑dimensional.

Another everyday example of this: photographing a plate of food at a restaurant with a friend’s arm or glass slightly in front of the lens. That out‑of‑focus edge gives the sense that the viewer is sitting at the table, not just looking at a product shot.

This technique is popular in lifestyle and influencer photography in 2024–2025 because it feels immersive. Instead of a sterile, perfectly clear frame, you get something that feels like a real moment, seen from a specific point of view.

How to spot framing opportunities in real life

You don’t need a fancy location to use these ideas. Once you train your eye, you’ll start seeing examples of creating depth with framing techniques almost everywhere.

Here’s a simple way to practice:

• When you arrive somewhere new, pause and look for natural openings: doorways, windows, arches, gaps between objects.
• Step back instead of forward. Ask, “What can I put between me and my subject?” That “something” often becomes your frame.
• Change your height. Crouch low so tables, railings, or plants become foreground frames. Or hold the camera higher so people, chairs, or signage frame the scene.
• Pay attention to the edges of your frame. Anything that partially enters from the sides, top, or bottom can be used as a framing element.

The more you practice, the more you’ll build your own mental library of the best examples that work for your style—whether that’s clean and minimal or layered and chaotic.

FAQ: Short answers and real‑world examples

Q: What are some simple, beginner‑friendly examples of creating depth with framing techniques?
A: Start with doorways, windows, and trees. Stand in a hallway and photograph someone in a room, using the doorframe as a border. Or shoot a landscape through branches or a fence. These are easy examples of framing that instantly add depth without complicated gear.

Q: Can you give an example of framing with just a smartphone?
A: Yes. Hold your phone close to a café window and focus on someone sitting inside. Let the window edge and reflections frame them. Or shoot a friend standing at the end of a tunnel or under an archway. Smartphones handle this well because they focus quickly and let you see the frame in real time.

Q: Do I always need something in the foreground to create depth?
A: Not always, but it helps. Perspective lines (like roads or hallways) can create depth on their own. However, adding a foreground frame—like a railing or overhanging branch—usually strengthens the sense of space. Many of the best examples of depth use both perspective and framing together.

Q: Are there examples of framing that don’t look obvious or forced?
A: Definitely. Some of the most effective examples of creating depth with framing techniques are subtle: a slightly blurred chair back at the edge of a portrait, a shadow line forming a soft border, or a hint of foliage in the corner of a landscape. The viewer feels the depth without consciously noticing the frame.

Q: Where can I learn more about composition and visual design?
A: Look for resources from art and design programs at universities, such as open course materials from MIT OpenCourseWare or visual design guides from major institutions. These often cover composition, framing, and depth in a broader visual context that you can apply directly to photography.

As you start paying attention, you’ll notice that many of your favorite photos online are really just smart examples of creating depth with framing techniques. The gear matters less than your willingness to step back, look for layers, and let the world itself build a frame around your subject.