Photography tutorial: beware the background
By Staff writer
A good subject in itself does not mean a good photo. Composition, lighting and color make important differences to the final image. But there’s another aspect of your image that’s just as significant as the subject – the background. Often photographers are so excited and so intent on taking the pictures that they forget about everything else in the frame. We’ve all been guilty of that.
We all know to watch out for trees and poles growing out of a subject’s hands. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Flowers for example have a great colour and texture, but if photographed without any consideration of their surroundings they lose their simplicity and are often lost within a cluttered background. Vibrant yellow daisies against a blue sky can formulate a dramatic picture – but only if some thought’s gone into framing.
Using a wide-angle lens and lowering your perspective would in most cases highlight the blooms against the sky, thus minimizing the background. This technique works well for most flower photography. However, it never fails to amaze me when I see people hovering over their floral subjects, rather than composing from beneath or beside them. The Floriade in Canberra is a classic example of this. Thousands of photographs are taken of the beautiful blooms each year – the vast majority being taken with cluttered, messy backgrounds.
With a little thought, these photographs could be dramatically improved by simply altering perspective and viewpoint. Minimizing depth of field is also effective – as is selective metering. Some photographers meter for the brightly-lit subject, which effectively darkens the background. Employing this method can be quite dramatic and emphasize the subject particularly well.
For portraits and family photographs, the same kind of consideration is needed. Moving a few feet may remove ugly power lines, car parks, rubbish bins or other unwelcome elements in your pictures. Waiting a few moments while others pass from view in busy scenes also improves your pictures.
Landscape photography requires particular patience and forethought. No matter how wonderful the vista, it will be marred if the background is cluttered. Photo editing is not the answer to every mistake or shortcut we make. Sometimes the simple act of moving a branch or piece of litter from the scene will greatly enhance the picture. A move to the left or right or change of viewpoint will also improve the image. Recently, while taking pictures on a magnificent beach in Northern Tasmania, I walked about 500m to remove several wind turbines from within my frame.
Trying to create the finest picture from a given situation pushes us to go that bit further for art’s sake. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
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