Digital Photo Tip: Think in Layers
One of the challenges in two-dimensional art, including photography, is creating the illusion of depth on a flat piece of paper or computer screen. Layering the elements in your composition is one way to do it.
Layering is a variation on having a foreground, middle ground, and background in your image. You can place your main subject in any of those positions, although layering is most effective when your subject is in the middle layer. The technique works for many subjects, whether you’re photographing your family, your car, or a favorite landscape.
So how do you create layers? Hide part of the subject by placing something in front of it. For a portrait, it could be grasses in a field, a window or door frame, or trees in the forest. In the portrait of the Floyd family the daylilies along the path hide their feet. The arbor and the evergreen hedge behind the family form two more layers in the composition. The foreground element helps frame the subject as well as creating a feeling of depth.
In this winter landscape of Mt. Baker from Artist Point the layers are formed by the snowdrifts close to the camera, the row of trees framing the mountain, and finally Mt. Baker, the main subject of the photo. Here the subject is in the background layer.
Lady ferns partially obscure a fallen log, which in turn hides the base of a clump of devil’s club in this restful forest landscape. The darker trees in the background form yet another layer.
The rich peeling bark on this Chinese red birch stands out from its surroundings because both the foreground ferns and background branches were deliberately kept out of focus. We have three layers, plus a sharp/soft contrast to isolate the subject.
This burned out stump in our woods is partially hidden by the foliage of some currant bushes at the base. The background layer is formed by the mass of light green vine maple leaves. Think about how this image would have been more two-dimensional if the currant bushes weren’t overlapping the stump.
In this garden scene the primary subject is the red-leaved Japanese maple. It’s framed by another Japanese maple in the foreground as well as by the swimming pool, rhododendrons, and evergreen hedge in the background — five layers in all.
Think about how you can use layers in your photos to give them more depth, a hint of mystery, and avoid the flat and boring look or you can hire a photographer to do the job for you.