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Why Pay Attention to the Background?
Why do you need to pay attention to the background when you should be focusing on your subject? Um….have you ever seen a photo with a tree (or light post) growing out of your subjects head?
And its not just things growing out of your subjects head – it could be your subject blending in to the background, or…a penis on a graffiti wall behind your subject (yes, yes it was me that made that mistake).
How do you Avoid this issue?
While taking the photo, pay attention to anything in the background that may distract from your subject that is not part of the story. In addition to things like trees and graffiti penises, you should also make sure the horizon, branches, wires, etc don’t flow through your subject.
If you see something distracting – fix it by changing your angle, adjusting the depth of field or moving your subject.
Example of a Distraction in the Background
In the below image do you see the fence post growing out of Lily’s head? You may not have noticed at first, but once you do you it is something you can’t unsee.
How did I correct this?
Get the Subject Closer
One way is to get the subject closer, and blur out the background using low depth of field. The fence is no longer growing out of her head and is less prominent in the background. But I still find it a little distracting.
Find a Different Viewpoint or Angle
For this one I had my daughter put Lily on the log with shade behind her, hoping that she would pose and I could get a unique angle. While her pose is not perfect, I love the background bokeh in this one and the fence is no longer visible.
Move to a Different Spot (if you can)
When we went to a different place in the yard, the lighting is different and looks like a completely different time of day – it’s not, these pics were all taken within 30 min or so. While the lighting isn’t as good as the log photo in the shade, I love her pose and the way she is lit from behind.
Bottom line – look for things in the background that distract from your subject, whether it is a fence post, a tree growing out of someone’s head or something else. Then do what you can to remove that distraction.
Have you ever forgotten to pay attention to the background and had an embarrassing holy sh*t moment when you saw the photo later? Please comment with it below so I know I’m not alone with my graffiti penis hiccup in the alley…