Framing
When using the technique of framing, you'll want to look for environmental elements that you can use to frame your subject. It doesn't have to be a perfect four-sided element like an actual picture frame, but anything that can enclose your subject at least a little bit will help to draw the focus. I think it looks especially nice when the framing element is closer or farther away than the subject, making it out of focus.
Selective Focus
One way to use selective focus is to focus on something other than your subject's face/eyes. This is especially fun with little children since they tend to not only have cute little hands, but they also love toying around with any small object they might find on a photo shoot (sticks, fruit, flowers, etc). In these photos, the subject's face may be in the picture, but it will be blurry since it is not the main focus of the image.
Another way to employ selective focus is with two people and one of them is in focus while the other is not. That way the second person is still an element of the photo, but not the main focus.
Tilt
I love tilting the camera to create interest, but this is a technique that get's old pretty quickly if it's over-used! And the angle of the tilt is important too. If you don't tilt enough, it looks like it wasn't intentional. If you tilt too much, it strains the viewer and isn't pleasing to the eye. Just play around with it to find the level of tilt you like best.
And since composition is such a fun, diverse, and practically never-ending subject, I'll have even more compositional elements for you next time! Have fun photographing!
