Look at What's Behind Your Subject ... Both Literally and Figuratively
When looking through your camera's viewfinder, it's a good idea to look from corner to corner and crop out any potentially distracting elements ... BEFORE YOU CLICK THE SHUTTER RELEASE!
And pay particular attention to what's behind your subject.
I mean that in two ways ...
First -- figuratively ... ask yourself -- "Why am I taking this shot ... what's my subject ... what's the most important element in the image I'm about to record?"
Second -- literally ... look carefully to see if there's anything behind (or in front of, for that matter) your subject that will draw unwanted attention ... distract the viewer and thus weaken the image.
One advantage in taking wildlife and other isolated outdoor subjects (flowers, birds, insects, etc.) in the spring , is the possibility of finding aesthetic, fresh green backgrounds for them. But be careful those backgrounds aren't too detailed lest they'll compete with your subject for the viewer's attention. To minimize this possibility, use your lens' widest aperture (f-stop); this will tend to blur the background while also giving you faster shutter speeds that will assist in eliminating or reducing motion blur of your subject.
All Rights Reserved/Article and Images/A. Macarthur
The Blue Jay is well-focused and the spring buds/foliage are blurred, the result of wide aperture and relatively fast shutter speed.
When looking through your camera's viewfinder, it's a good idea to look from corner to corner and crop out any potentially distracting elements ... BEFORE YOU CLICK THE SHUTTER RELEASE!
Click on the image for a better view.
Nice shot Mac... and nice quick lesson. I think that people are in too much of a hurry to get the shot, that they are not looking at what is going on in the shot.
Here is an example of what happens when you don't pay attention to the viewer. My wife and I were hiking along a stream and I noticed a hummingbird nest. After climbing into the tree, my attention was focused hoping not to break the branch the nest was on. The back ground was in nice focus, the nest not so much. I obviously guessed wrong on the setting before I made the climb.
So when are you going to publish a book? My wife would be first in line to get it. She just loves your work.
In this one I was trying to use the foreground to make the subject more intense:
Actually, I've published five books ... only one on nature/photography ... about rivers; the others were on political/editorial content.
The dark wires in the foreground constitute an overlapping plane and that indeed adds depth. I'll do an article on that soon.
Cool. I'll see if I can get it for her.
It's authored under my real name ... if you really want one, e-mail me your mailing address and I'll send one as a gift. If I don't have any in my office, I'll see if it's still in print.
You can see what you were going for, so the miss, isn't so bad. We all learn from theseattempts.. which is why, I so rarely show any of my pics, LOL!
Steve,
I just checked ... it's still in print and I ordered copies. Let me know where to send it ... it will probably be a week or two for delivery to me ... after which I'll send one on to you.
Once I get your e-mail, I'll give you my background information ... and again, this is my gift to you/your wife.
I will be adding more example images tomorrow.
Looking forward to that!