To create a photograph, photographers frame a picture with the viewfinder or LCD monitor on their camera. We have become so accustomed to rectangular viewfinders and pictures that we tend to forget that we are creating art within that frame. Yet a good photograph has to fit comfortably within its right angles and oblong shape.

A given situation can yield many pictures. Photographers are, in a sense, cutting out a slice of reality from an entire scene. Amateurs can take boring pictures at an event where experienced photographers often create stunning photos.

Trees frame the rising sun. Framing often creates a photo.

Good photographers make the elements of the picture work within the frame, so that the subject of the photo seems to exist naturally within the rectangular format. Photographers often have a number of controls that allow them to adjust this framing until they get it just right, including techniques such as zooming in or out, changing the angle, moving backward or forward or left to right, or adjusting the depth of field.