3 Things to Help You Pay Better Attention to the Background in Your Photos

Something that can be a struggle, especially for newer photographers, is learning to pay attention to the background of an image. Even I’m guilty of this! You get so focused on your subject and how amazing the photo is going to be, that you just completely forget to look around and check that you don’t have anything distracting in your background. It really only takes 2 things to start to master the art of beautiful backgrounds. And those things are knowledge, and practice. So in this post I am going to give you some tips so that you can go out there and practice paying attention to the backgrounds in your awesome photos!

Horizon line

This fence is acting similar to a horizon line. Because of the placement that line is running right through her head.

The horizon line is just that. Where the sky meets the earth to form a line, that is the horizon line. Anytime you are outside taking photos you need to be paying attention to where the horizon is. A poorly “placed” horizon line can be really distracting. When I was starting out I took many photographs where the horizon was running straight through the head of the subject. This is distracting to someone looking at the image because our eyes naturally follow lines, and that particular line is disrupting the flow of the image. Depending on your subject and the background you are shooting against, you can either move the horizon line above your subject’s head or a little below. Generally portraits choose the latter option or else change the orientation and angle of the photo in order to eliminate the horizon line from the portrait altogether. When you pay attention to your horizon line you can make more powerful images.

Distracting Background Elements

This photo would be much more successful if you could not see the piping in the background. I should have moved closer to her or cropped the image to remove the distracting background.

Besides the horizon, there are other things that could cause distraction in the background of your photos. A big one is things like trees or poles that we don’t notice that seemingly sprout from the heads of our subject. We need to make sure that we are aware of the whole frame of our photograph and all the elements involved. Another thing that can be really hard is people. We can’t really control where the random people in the background are standing, so we need to be aware of them so that we can move ourselves and/or our subject to avoid having that weird person bending down to pick up a penny. You also want to be careful to keep trash cans, license plates, crazy signs that you aren’t wanting there on purpose, bright spots in the background, and anything else that could distract the viewer from your subject. Really, unless you have mad Photoshop skills, the only way to avoid these things is to pay attention and be willing to move and re-compose your photo. If there is a person that you can see right over the left shoulder of your subject, just shift over a little so that you can’t see them anymore. But make sure that you are paying attention and adapting as necessary.

3 Tips on Backgrounds

While there are a lot of things to look out for to ensure you don’t have a distracting background, here are some tips that can help make it a little easier for you! 1. Shallow Depth of Field

By shooting with a wide aperture the leaf stands out and anything that could be distracting in the background blurs together.

This looks especially good in nature photos, but also works if you just have a pretty distracting background. If you shoot with a wide aperture (usually like f/4 or lower) and make sure there is distance between the subject and background you will get a really beautiful bokeh. Bokeh is when the background is really blurry and your subject stands out a lot. 2. Simple Backgrounds

This photo wouldn't be nearly as powerful if the background wasn't plain and simple.

While it isn’t always true, sometimes less really is more. When you are trying to convey a lot of emotion or create a powerful image, having a simple image can really help you with that. Basically getting rid of all background elements leaves your viewers with only one option: really look at the subject.

3. Fill the Frame

This beautiful flower fills the whole frame! There is nothing in the background to distract from it.

This is another technique that works well with nature, but can make for some very interesting and unique images. Filling the frame is just what it sounds like. Take a flower for example. If you are taking a photo of a flower but you can’t seem to get rid of all the distracting background elements, try getting really close to the flower and filling your whole frame with the flower. This creates a really beautiful and dynamic image that leaves the viewer wondering how they never thought to get so close to a flower before. It can be hard to remember to pay attention to the background in your photographs. But with practice it will become second nature!

Have you ever had a photograph that was kind of ruined because of something in the background?