This week's photo tip addresses a question asked commonly by beginning photographers: "How do I frame a shot?"

There are several things that are important. One standard piece of advice that one will find in any basic book on how to take a picture is called "The Rule of Thirds".

The idea is that typically you don't put the main subject in the middle of a picture. If you divide the image into thirds, both vertically and horizontally, the main subject would be just to the right of the middle or just to the left.

That's advice that one would find in just about any book on photography.

Another piece of advice that I find helpful is to be very aware of what else is in your image, aside from the main subject.

One of the mistakes that a lot of people make is not being as aware of the background as they might. The classic example is telephone poles coming out of somebody's head. Very often, by just moving a foot or two to the right or left, one can eliminate distracting elements in the background.

Just as a painter is aware of all of the corners of his canvas, a photographer should be aware of all portions of his canvas.