Photography Tips – The Background
The sign of a great photographer is seeing the photo in any situation, and make sure that the foreground middle ground and the background looks good.
So be mindful of what you are taking a photo of.
A simple background will make your subject stand out where as a colourful background could make the whole picture pop with a dramatic flair.As a photographer you will be put into situations where you will not have a great place to take photos, or the space will be so confined that you will have to move to another location to capture a full length shot of the subject.
Sometimes the simplest backgrounds make the best shots. Be mindful of the background of the photo, Simplicity is key. Sometime the background can overtake the focus from the main subject. So be careful to be mindful of what is behind or in front of your subject.
If the background is inappropriate, or if there are people or cars or something that will take away from the overall effect you want to capture.
1. Move your subject.
Ask your model to move to another position. In the photo below there was a car in the background, by me simply moving the subject, I was able to capture this image.
2. Move your capturing angle.
Tilting your camera up or down, can cut out a lot of unnecessary background clutter.
3. Fill your frame with your subject
Filling your frame with the subject will eliminate all unwanted distractions out of the shot.
4. Use your aperture to blur out the background
Setting your aperture very low, you can adjust the focal depth to the desired effect focusing only on what you want in focus, the rest will be blurred out.
5. Use depth of field to blur your back ground.
If you have a subject with a large open space behind it you can blur the depth of field, causing your subject to have a clear focal point, with a blurry background which eliminates all the unwanted background imagery.
6. Set up a back drop or studio
When you add a background, be it with a photographic backdrop in a studio or use a sheet to get the crisp clear background.
7. Adding in and editing your back ground in post-production.
Sometimes you have to edit a photo later and take out or adjust undesirable elements in the background, as you were unable to do it on the shoot.
In this photo I had to remove the litter that was lying around, normally I would go pick up the litter but in this instance, the couple were anxious to get the reception going and I was short on time.
Hopefully I have set a good back ground for you, (See what I did there) and most of all I hope you enjoyed this article.
Written by Claire Olivier