HEADROOM

Headroom is the area between the top of the frame and

the top of talents head. You want to keep this area to a
minimum. There are exceptions as there is to everything.

PROPER HEADROOM TOO MUCH HEADROOM NO HEADROOM

When you are framing your subject If you put the subject too low, it throws If you put the subject to high, you will
using the rule of thirds. You will want to off the look of your frame and gives the be cutting off part of the head. It
put the eyes about a third of the way impression that your subject is falling throws off the look of your frame.
down the image. out of the frame.

EXCEPTIONS AND VARIATIONS OF PROPER HEADROOM

Medium Long Shot

Long Shot

Wide Shot

Extreme Wide Shot

When framing a wide shot and the talent is shown head to
toe, you will still want to put their eyes on the upper third.
This will result in more headroom than if we were doing a
close or medium close up shot. You want to have a little bit of
space below their feet as well. Don’t cut off the feet at the
ankles to achieve getting their eyes in the proper place.
When framing for headroom in a high angle shot, you need to
change things a bit. Put the tops of their heads in the upper
third instead of their eyes. If you put their eyes there as in
the previous examples, you will find that their head may be
cut off and you lose the perspective you are trying to
achieve by using a high angle shot. In this case, a little bit
more head room than usual is acceptable.

A Dutch angle is when the camera is tilted to one side, giving
you a skewed perspective. When doing a slight angled shot,
follow the same rules as previously listed. If you are doing an
extreme dutch angle, put the head closer to the corner of the
frame. In this case the nose will be closer to the rule of thirds
cross section than the eyes.
Here is an example of when you may want to have too much
headroom. This wide shot you can see the full body of the
subject but notice we put the eyes on the bottom third
instead of the top third to see the expansive size of the field
and make them look small.

Using proper headroom will help keep your talent shots interesting and pleasing to look at.
With more practice, you may learn how to break this rule.