What's poppin, people? It's Dante. Welcome to module two. Foreground, middle ground, background. Today I will be explaining to you these three spatial zones that are critical for layering in street photography. And so we'll be starting off with an example of a photograph that I made in Zambia, Africa, looking at the background, firstly, as the foundation that sets the stage, where the light, shape and mood of the frame can comes together from this structure. And so I set my stage simply looking at all of these beautiful lines and looking at all of the beautiful shapes, but not necessarily setting my body in this place because of those lines and frames, but because I was interested in the moment firstly. You know, I'm looking at life and I'm looking at all of its complexities from the foreground, middle ground and background. But when I see a moment and. And I see this boy here with that shadow play against the wall, I must then solve the visual puzzle of setting the stage and setting the frame. And so I drop to a low angle to separate the tree, to separate the bushes, to separate the building from the background and the sky in the frame. And so the way in which I start off making a photograph typically comes from a recognition of a moment. But then I always make sure to set the stage, to set the background in relationship to the other things going on in the frame. And so the middle ground is going to tell the story, right? This is the main subject, the human presence, the emotional center of the frame. And this belongs in that space. The foreground is going to add depth, it's going to pull the viewer in, it's going to frame the scene. And so, essentially, with this foreground element, I included the gesture of the hand again against the sky there. And the hand is holding a stick in relationship to that small pole on the right hand side in the background of the frame. A very simple yet intentional decision to add visual interest in this picture. And so the foreground, middle ground and background work together seamlessly. As the background is the structure, the middle ground gives meaning and the foreground gives depth. And these relationships that you build, they do matter. And these are the foundational principles that hold together a layered frame. It's synthesizing these elements and synthesizing these spatial zones. And so as you go out there and you start to observe these moments and things that are fleeting and the spontaneous nature of everyday life, you're going to start seeing like this with the three spatial zones and making sure that your physical position and relationship to those moments create a cohesive composition. And so these elements of foreground, middle ground, and background are not always required. This is not a checklist where you always need to make sure you tick off a box that says that you have a foreground, you have a middle ground, you have a background. The point of using this technique of layering is to create clarity. It's not to add complexity. And so recognize that these three spatial zones are simply options. They're not rules. And so how to see spatially? Essentially, when I'm out there on the street, I always ask myself, what is my background? Right. And then where will the subjects live? Is the foreground helpful? Right. These simple questions are important to consider. You know, build the frame. Don't just react quickly. And so, essentially, with this frame, I'll show you exactly how I sort of saw the world in front of me spatially. And so in this photograph, we have some fishermen and a dog at the lake in Zambia, Africa. And the first thing that drew me in, of course, was this dog. But in order to see with depth and add clarity to that moment of the dog, I needed to make sure my physical positioning dropped to a low angle to separate the sky and the horizon line from the dog there in the foreground. And so I essentially dropped to a low angle to separate the dog from the background. And then as I separated the dog from the background, the very naturally I positioned it in the foreground in relationship to the other things happening in the frame, from these people on the boats to the reflection and the water. But really, simply put, when I see life and I'm looking at life spatially, I'm analyzing everything from back to front. I see the moment, but then I think about how I can create separation from that moment and the background. And so by drawing, dropping low, and separating the dog from the lake in the background, everything else fell together naturally. And so photography, and especially composition, it's physical. And so find the background first. Stop chasing people. With layering, you're going to have to flip the habit of always looking for a character, a moment, a gesture, and you're going to have to start building a stage and allowing the actors to arrive later. And so the background is the anchor. This is what holds. Holds the frame together. It really does determine the readability of the frame, and it sets the energy and the mood of your picture. And I believe that a subject that's interesting isn't going to be saved by weak structure. And so if the background doesn't work alone, it's not really going to help you if you have, like, an interesting subject in the Frame. I think what makes a strong background, it really comes down to a few different things. You know, I ultimately find, find that light is the thing that really puts a frame together. You know, the way the light casts upon surfaces, people, places and things, it gives form and shape to an image. And so you might find light on surface, a clean shadow, a graphic shape, a simple structure, and then build your frame around that. And so you need to commit to a background. You know, choose the frame, choose the height and your physical positioning. And then stay and be patient. You're really got to either commit or move on. And so with layering, you're gonna start anticipating things very naturally when you're present. You know, what could happen here where gestures might land will start to become a little bit more obvious to you. You know, you're gonna start being able to time and sort of anticipate moments overreacting and responding quickly to moments where essentially people, people, moments and the things that happen on the street, they're out of our control. But when you set your stage and you find yourself at a choke point with a clean background, you can start to put order to the chaos in your frame. You can start to have control over these moments and start to anticipate the spontaneous nature of life, right. This to me is the art of street photography. It's embracing the spontaneity, but then finding a way to put structure to it all. And so here in Mumbai, India, I was walking through Dharavi and discovered this beautiful playground with lots of children and chaos at the scene. And so the first thing that I did to make this frame was I dropped to a low vantage point, I dropped to a low angle to separate the subjects from the background, right? So we have this background of the blue sky. And I dropped to a low angle at the children's level to separate the subjects from the background in the frame. And then when I sort of drop to this low angle and put my body in this place where there's lots of energy and chaos, I simply allow the chips to fall as they may, allowing the other children within the frame to sort of fall together naturally through my physical positioning. And then finally I noticed how this one boy was playing with a toy gun, you know, throwing it in the air, gesturing everywhere. And it was a very chaotic moment. But because I had the stage set, because I was present and had the background clearly visible, I had my body in the right position. The timing of this moment, of this boy throwing the toy gun out from the left hand side of the frame fell together very Naturally, through anticipation of me being there, being prepared and watching the gestures and anticipating where they could land. And so this is another example from Mumbai, India that I will share with you. That is a very good example on how I use the background as structure, but also use it as a way for me to control the outcome of the photograph. And so you can see in this photograph I made of this bird at Bondra Fort flying perfectly within that empty doorway on the right hand side of the frame. And you might look at this and think that it was a very lucky moment. But actually, as I will share with you the behind the scenes of this particular moment as I'm photographing, you know, you'll see a POV video from my GoPro. I was exclaiming out loud at the end when I was making the picture that I was actually anticipating to make these relationships between the man in the window, between the people in the foreground and this bird flying in the background. And so watch from my POV and then I will explain to you how I made this photograph with, with intentionality. Yes, yes, yes, yes. The bird, the bird, the bird, the bird, you know, you know, the bird, the bird, the bird. I went 1, 1 and then the bird. And so you could hear me explaining to those boys that were watching me photograph. I'm looking for 1, 2, 3 and the bird, right? I was looking for the bird, of course, in my frame I had this sort of idea that this could occur by watching the patterns of nature, looking at the way the light falls, looking at the way the birds are flying around this sort of area in Bond Refort and then being patient and being observant, you know, paid off. Because ultimately I believe you can make any photograph of your dreams. You know, these things that seem lucky, you know, I believe you can, you can essentially force your luck in these situations. And so the way in which I made this frame with intentionality is by setting the structure of the frame around the background. And so a lot of the times I find an anchor, you know, something that sort of makes it so I just stay still in a, in, in that sort of like same physical position as I watch life unfold. And so the thing that I did was I set my sort of anchor point around this window on the left hand side of the frame, watching as that man was standing within the window of that frame and creating this sort of clear separation between that man and the window frame. And so as I sort of set my body in relationship to, to that man in the window, the structure of the framing came together. Naturally around that man. And so now we have these sort of simple, elegant geometric shapes using the structure of this fort, using the doorway as an open space to allow the bird to fly into its exact place against that blue background. And then I was watching as the people were gesturing over and over again, walking to the entryway of this doorway. And. And I was waiting and anticipating these different things. And so we plug the foreground in relationship to the background of this bird flying into the frame, filling the frame with visual interest from foreground, middle, ground to background. But it all came through me anticipating, right? Not simply reacting through setting my stage. And by setting my stage and setting the background and the structure, I was able to force my control over the spontaneous nature of life. And so when you're making layered photos, you want to chase less and be more patient, because this is going to allow you to have more control over the chaotic nature of life, right? And so this matters because if you're able to sort of practice this technique, you can apply it everywhere in the street, whether you're in Mumbai or your hometown. These kind of ways in which you work with layering become a repeatable practice where you can have this sort of result that you're looking for over and over again through repetition. But it all comes through recognizing the power of setting the structure of your background firstly, and then allowing the control to occur very naturally. But it's through your physical positioning. And so use the background as the stage, right? It's not just a background backdrop. It's a defined space, right? Where you put four corners around this space, and everything outside of those four corners is superfluous. And so you want to remove the distractions and allow the action to happen inside that frame. So when you create the stage and you have this sort of defined space, your background, your structure, it's going to create control. And so with control, you can then actually work with layers, and you can start to put things together from foreground, middle, ground, to background. And so when you're out there in the world, look for a structure, look for a choke point, a place where you can find the potential for a frame. For instance, here in Mexico City, I found this beautiful mural. I saw how people were moving in and out of the light and shadow play. And I was still for around 20 to 30 minutes, waiting to make this frame. And so with this picture, the first thing that struck my interest was, of course, that beautiful popping color from the mural of that hand. And so I positioned my physical body in relationship to the mural. And of course, I was aware of the light and shadow play and the way that people could interact with it within my frame. And so I waited as somebody moved into the shadows, emerging from the light, revealing the hands of this man pulling that cart into the frame in the foreground. And so we have a very simple frame from foreground to background, between the man's hands holding that cart in relationship to the mural of the hands in the background. And so when you're at these scenes and you're anticipating things and you're watching life unfold naturally, just allow people to be themselves. You become a fly on the wall. And the structure that you impose through setting your stage will give you more control over these spontaneous moments that occur. And so here in my hometown, Philadelphia, I return to the same street over and over again to practice layering. And so one of the places that I return to very often is. Is Market street, and especially the bus stops. And so by returning to the same location, returning to the same place where you have the same stage, you have the same position, you have the same background, you're going to be able to practice with repetition and consistency to improve your act of layering. And so at these bus stops, there's always going to be different people. People are moving in and out of the frame. There's always going to be something new. There might be a nuance or different kind of thing that changes throughout the frames by looking at the way people walk on the sidewalk or watching as people are waiting for the bus. And so by practicing in the same location with one stage, you will have repeatable results. But it comes through repetition once again, by going to that same place and setting your stage from that same position and just watching how the different actors sort of emerge naturally into these situations. And so I encourage you to find a place near you where. Where you can anticipate moments, but also have a clear structure and a controlled background where you can actually practice this technique. And so it's important to know when to leave. You know, a lot of the time when you set your stage and you're making a frame, it might become dead after a while. And so it's important to leave intentionally, but not from boredom. You know, because sometimes, like I've been saying, it took me 20, 30 minutes to make a particular frame. And if you're simply bored, you know, embrace that boredom. Embrace the mundane nature of life. Because to make a layered frame, it's going to require you to wait. And so now we're going to be discussing how to use the foreground intentionally right where the foreground, it's not just decoration and you're not just adding it for more complexity, it should serve a purpose, right? I don't think that we should just plug in a foreground for the sake of it. Essentially, the foreground must do something or it will do nothing, right? And so the foreground is going to add depth. It will anchor the frame and guide the eye throughout the foreground to the background. And so the point of a foreground is to support the stage, right? The point is to anchor the main subject in the center, in the foreground in relationship to that beautiful structure of the background. And so it's going to rely on, require you to be intentional and to not just sloppily add an element in the foreground for the sake of things. And so the foreground, it's very physical, it's going to require you to get close. You know, I think the best photos are often the ones that are most close to the subject. And so by positioning your body close to a subject in the foreground, it's going to be a very physical act. And so here in Hanoi, Vietnam, I made the decision to get extremely close to the scene. You know, I was watching as these children were playing here along the lake. And the first decision that I made was by plugging this girl here on the right hand side, taking up one third of the frame. And so by feeling that subject on the left hand side filling one third of the frame, we have a visual and emotional impact of her gesture and the physical position that she is taking in the frame. And so by making the foreground impactful and filling the foreground with a strong gesture or a human emotional facial expression, you can drive the viewer's eye into the meat and potatoes of the frame. Being these children here playing along the lake and simply allowing the other elements in the frame to fall together naturally. And so the background is just as important as the foreground. And I think that when with photography, and especially street photography, where everything is out of our control and there's so much spontaneity, it's really important for you to be able to anticipate these different moments and different things and recognize in the moment whether or not you need to get closer or you need to include a foreground or whether or not a foreground would be distracting. And so when you look at these three spatial zones, recognize which element or which person in the frame can give impact to create depth in the image. Here is a perfect example of that. Using these children in Mumbai, I created a very Quiet foreground of this boy's eye, as you can see in the frame. I filled the left hand side of the picture with the eye of this boy. And the rest of the frame kind of just falls together naturally in relationship to the other sort of foreground elements. And that's due to the fact that I'm aware of a foreground being something that elevates your frame, you know, where the foreground and the way that it draws your eye in is something that doesn't need to be so obvious, it doesn't need to shout, but it can be a very quiet and elegant moment, such as this boy's eye being revealed in a small sliver of the frame. And I believe that less is often better. You know, I think that a lot of the times we try to over complicate things when we're practicing layering and, and it's important to know when to skip certain elements within your frame. And so having the restraint to sort of remove distracting elements is also a very critical component of the act of layering. And so some common foreground mistakes is adding too much, you know, overlapping subjects that have no separation or even just including something in a frame that doesn't serve purpose in the picture. You know, if it's not important in the story you're trying to tell, just don't include it. Right, right. And so what I try to think about a lot of the time when including a foreground is how can I synthesize the foreground with the background? How can I make sure that that foreground element is clearly visible within my frame? And so as I was making this picture here in Zambia, Africa, I was aware of the beautiful rainbow. Right. We just had some rain, a rainbow appeared. And of course, I was chasing that rainbow and trying to find something from nothing really. I mean, there wasn't much going on. But then I approached this house and I saw this woman and I saw her dog, I saw her home. And I had the idea of dropping low to create an impactful foreground using this dog in the bottom half of the frame. And so in order for me to give emphasis to that gesture of the dog looking back towards you in this photograph, I had to drop to the angle of the dog to clearly separate it from the rest of what's going on around it. From the grass, from the tree, from the plants, and from the house and all these other different things. Right. And so the physical positioning that you take when making a frame is the most important part of creating a composition. And so in order to make an impactful foreground. I needed to drop low to separate that element from the background. The discipline of intention is all about making sure that you're not trying to force it. You know, I think that with foregrounds and, you know, trying to include these things that add visual interest or draw the viewer's eye in, it should be something that happens naturally. Where at the scene in Mumbai, these men were gathering blocks and, you know, putting things on a truck. And as it was occurring, I was watching the hand gestures and I noticed how some of them entered the foreground, some of them entered the background. You know, there was a different dynamic here at the scene that called for me to plug that hand in the foreground. But it wasn't something that I had to force. It kind of happened naturally through the way that this sort of scene unfolded. And so when we balance these three layers together from foreground, middle, ground and background, we create harmony where balance, this is the goal. It's not to just maximize layers for the sake of making a photograph with more layers, but it's about creating harmony throughout the frame. It's about creating structure that feels calm, that's easy to read, that's pleasant for the viewer's eyes. And so I believe, though, that balance doesn't necessarily mean that there's equality throughout the frame. That doesn't necessarily mean that there's only one layer, right? But the other layers in the frame so support the balance that you're trying to make. And so avoid visual confusion where the hierarchy in the frame matters when creating layers in your frame. For instance, here in Baltimore, we have a simple moment of a man smoking a cigarette with his son on the right hand side, playing against the railing. And I made sure to drop to their angle to separate the man with the cigarette in relationship to the boy. To create hierarchy between these two different plans. People within the frame from the foreground to the middle ground, and then using the crushed shadow area as a clean background. So balance is all about creating harmony. It's about making sure that the things within your frame, the gestures, the people, have their own clear individual space that support everything else that's going on in the frame. And so let one layer lead. You know, a lot of the time it could be the foreground. You know, I think that with moment that's happening in front of you, it's oftentimes happening right there smack in front of you. And so here in Shofat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, I use this man with the watermelon, that clear gesture of him playing with the Watermelon as that strong foreground element that leads the viewer in. And then finally your eye sort of gets a little bit more interested in the frame and moves to the background, to the middle ground, to the shadows and light. And I believe it's important to choose intentionally when you're at a scene and recognize which one you want to include firstly. And so if you're making a picture, you want to make sure when you're using layers that these aren't competing with each other. You want clear separation. You want to make sure that the depth is created naturally, that you're not forcing anything. And I think that when you're making a layered frame, it's important that not one part of the frame is stealing the attention of the viewer. And so separation is very important. And making sure that there's a hierarchy to create harmony. And so this is going to preserve the balance. And one of the things and elements that I believe puts this all together is light. And the way the light casts upon the space, it gives shape and form to the faces in the moments. And so using light is a very simple way to create structure, balance and harmony in a frame, as it will give each person a defined space. And so it's also very important to simplify, to restore balance. Where? Here in Baltimore. I was photographing this child playing in a tree and made the compositional decision of separating the face of that girl smiling on the left hand side in relationship to the legs of that girl playing on the right hand side. And I simply reduced all of the clutter in the frame and emphasized and focused on only on that moment that mattered most. So it's really important to simplify the composition and to create hierarchy, hierarchy and balance and harmony throughout the different planes within your frame. And so balance isn't necessarily something rational, right? It's not something that you can really calculate by looking at the composition like it's a rule of thirds. But you really have to feel the potential of a space. And when you go to a location and you're photographing, trust your gut, right? Trust your intuition and the body and the way that you physically position yourself in relationship to these different moments. I find that that is extremely critical. Where you don't want to always be so rational, right? You want to feel the sort of essence of a moment or a scene and sort of respond naturally through your intuition. And so now I'm going to give you a step by step method for layering in street photography. Firstly, slow down and scan. Look at the light, look at the shadows, look at the different things that are occurring at the scene, right? And so when I'm approaching a scene to photograph, it's usually something visual or something emotional that strikes me, that makes me go and actually try to achieve a photograph of that thing. And so here at this scene in Zambia, Africa, I'm observing as these children are playing against this empty face. And the first thing that drew my eye in was this shadow on the wall. And so essentially, I made sure to find the background that supports that thing that caught my eye visually, which was the shadow. And so I essentially used the wall, I used the poles, and I used that doorway as a structure to sort of hold together the content. And that thing that visually interested me, which was the shadow, and in relationship to the children playing. And then finally, you wanna. Or thirdly, you wanna choose your position, right? And so by looking at that shadow as the thing that was visually interesting to me, that became my anchor, right? And so I chose my position to create this composition in relationship to that shadow, the background. And of course, trying to synthesize the middle ground. And so fourthly, you wanna wait for the middle ground. You know, these sort of, like, spontaneous moments, the side characters, the other things going on in the frame, they kind of come together naturally. And you're going to have to be patient to allow these things to occur and sort of let the scene build up. And then fifthly, or fifth, we're going to be deciding on the foreground, right? And so the obvious foreground for me making this picture was this boy who was hanging on this pole and was very much close to my lens. And I believe that, you know, this, of course, is an option. You don't always need to add a strong foreground in your frames. But I oftentimes find that when you're in a situation like this where there's lots of children playing or there's lots of action, that it's very easy to plug a foreground element in. However, the light and shadow play at this particular scene is what elevated it from a mundane moment of a child playing as his eye is revealed in light and shadow play. And so watch for relationships, right? So, sixth, I want you to watch for the way in which the foreground interacts with the background. Look at the way the light and shadow play casts upon the scene, right? Look at the way that people are moving or people are still. You know, the alignment of these things really do matter and set your photograph apart from a flat image to a layered image and show. So, seventh, I want you to shoot deliberately, right? You're going to want to respond when something clicks, when you see the moment unfold, you know, make sure you're photographing through the moment, right? You don't want to just press the shutter once and move on, but you're going to want to shoot deliberately as things are unfolding naturally. And a lot of the times I'm making lots of frames. And so you can see here in this contact sheet, we have lots of frames made. And so know when to stop, right? You want to make sure that you're milking the scene until it's pretty much done. You want to make sure that as you're photographing, you're watching for relationships, you're observing and you're moving your body in relationship to those things that you're interested in, whether it's the shadow or the element in the foreground of the gesture, right? And you're going to want to make sure that when the scene sort of naturally dies down, that you know when to leave and when to stop photographing. And so my simple mantra is that I don't leave the scene until the scene leaves me. And so this becomes a repeatable method, right? This sort of art of layering is a repeatable method that works anywhere, right? This becomes an instinct over time. And as you practice and as you go out there with repetition, you're starting, you're going to start to enter the flow state where you'll start to just recognize these patterns. You'll start to recognize the three spatial planes of foreground, middle, ground and background very easily, right? And so we, where you stand, ultimately, this is the photograph which is interesting, you know, where composition is extremely physical. And so here we have a scene that I photographed of a bus stop in Philadelphia at my hometown, just right down the street. And so I was very much interested in the light and shadow play here. I was interested in that geometric shape of the way the light casts upon the pole. Firstly, and so I moved my physical body and and I positioned my physical body in relationship to that light on the pole in the foreground. And then as I was observing the scene and building the structure of this frame, I noticed that sign on the left hand side and made sure that I separate that sign cleanly against the blue sky to sort of serve as my anchor point. That allowed me to relate the foreground to the background of the frame. And so I was aware of light and shadow, aware of the people and the way they were moving. And as this man emerged on the right hand side of the frame, I click the shutter as he enters into that space and creates this strong silhouette effect, filling up one third of the frame. Finally, waiting as people aligned in the middle ground of the frame, we have this man and his simple gesture in the light, sort of looking downwards in the center of the frame. And the structure of the frame came together naturally, but it came through my physical positioning, through me recognizing something visually that was interesting, being the light, and then positioning myself in relationship to the light and the background, and then everything else kind of builds around that structure. So it's. It's possible for you to repeat this method and repeat this way of seeing anywhere in the streets, anywhere in the world. And I encourage you to recognize that. And it really does just come down to practice and repetition to achieve this in a photograph. And so hopefully some of these tips helped you, because I believe the art of layering, as much as you can study and read and, you know, watch this video and look at my examples and things is going to come down to actual, real practice. So I encourage you, now that you've finished this module here about foreground, middle ground and background, to go out and to find a place where you can put this into practice. You know, find a clean background, find yourself at a choke point where you can use a background, a structure, where you can impose order in your frame and sort of play with this idea of seeing with depth, and play with this idea of working with patience and working with intentionality, where you can put order to the spontaneous nature of life. If you set your background firstly and you work within those limitations at that space, and you're patient, it can pay off, right? You may get bored, it may seem mundane and repetitive, but if you're looking to do this kind of thing, you got to go out there with consistency and actually put these ideas into practice. And so that's my encouragement to you at the end of this lecture. And so thank you for watching this one and I will see you in the next one.