Composing Backgrounds & Elements

Understanding basic photographic composition will definitely help you take better photos. 

Gelato-Yummmm

 Background is one of the essentials in photography. However you must be aware of everything around your subject before you take the shot, not just the background. Sometimes it's a judgement call and your personal taste....

Biker between 2 pedestrians.

Eliminating one pedestrian.

Lots of action.

Eliminating some of the action and focusing on my subjects.

Do the elements in your composition add to it or distract from it? Remember to stop and look around before you push the shutter release button.

I captured a portion of a house in upper right corner and partial red tulips on the left, distractions.

I eliminated the house and tulips to focus on my subject-the frog.

How often have you taken what you thought would be a great shot only to find that the image lacks pizzazz because the subject blends into a distracting background that overwhelms your subject?

I love this guy's hat and dreds but there's too much going on in the photo for viewers to focus on him.

Start by checking the area for unpleasant objects.  If necessary, place your subject in a different location with a different background or take the shot from a different angle. Turn your subject, kneel down and shoot up, stand on something sturdy and shoot downward.

Kneeling down-shooting upward.

Shooting downward

Don't place your subject with anything popping out of their head like trees, light posts, or sign posts. If you can't move your subject, shoot from a different angle. 

Above: notice the tree “growing” out of her head – a distraction.

By shifting left I captured a nicer image. The curve in the tree trunk now makes a nice frame for her face.

Notice the power lines “growing” out of my hubby's ear!
My Hubby and Son

Centering them under the tree is more appealing visually.

"Fill flash" would have eliminated the harsh shadows on the above  photos-I'll cover fill flash in another post.

At times it's necessary to take the shot as is. Some of my best photos break the rules of background. I leave interesting or unusual elements in if I feel they add to the image....

The elements in this photo distract from the flowers.

This is better but.......

Breaking the rules-I like this one best-the added element of the 

boots creates a story: Who is that?, What's going on in the photo?

Objects in the background can distract from or add to your photos. Being aware of what's going on in all areas of the image will help you get the results you want and improve your photographic composition.

I love the graffiti background and the boarded up window framing my son's head.

Below: cropping your photos in post editing software is often the answer to eliminating unwanted objects. 

Unattractive background

By cropping in my editing software I've created a pleasing image.

Practice, practice, practice; read, read, read, look at lots of images by other photographers. You'll catch on to composing your backgrounds and the other visual elements in your photos in no time!

Twilight, the series...

I love this photographic digital art series. I've had a number of people ask to see the before photographs as a comparison to the digital art set, so I decided to repost this blog and show you both the before and after photos.  The photos were taken of the woods in front of my house.  It was late in the day just after a lovely snowfall. A fog had settled in so the air had a gray-blue tinge. 

I grabbed my camera knowing I wouldn't have much time to take photos before dark.  I set my camera's automatic setting to landscape/panoramic mode, opened my front door and leaned my arm and shoulder against the door jamb to minimize camera shake and the possibility of blurry photos. Keep this tip in mind when you don't have a tripod handy.  Trees and walls work as well.


Automatic landscape/panoramic mode is designed to capture scenic vistas, city skylines, and other large scale objects.  It’s designed to keep both objects close to the camera and in the distance in sharp focus.  Check your camera's manual for information on setting this mode.

The auto landscape mode does several helpful things when you’re shooting outside.  This mode produces a large area of sharp focus. It boosts colors and contrast slightly.  It also produces rich, bold hues that we want in our landscape photos, unless you're shooting in fog :-).  Greens and blues are emphasized.  I wanted the blue in the fog to "pop" as much as possible.

Twilight Pine (digital art version)

Twilight Pine (original version)

Twilight Woods (digital art version)

 Twilight Woods (original version)

Twilight Aspen (digital art version)

Twilight Aspen (original version)

There's quite a difference between the original photos and the digital art, also called photo manipulated, versions. Any photo, even portraits, are great for manipulating and turning into digital art.  And, if you have a so-so photo that has good composition but lacks pizzazz you have a perfect candidate for digital editing. 

Ok, how did I do this?  There's several options, some free, some quite inexpensive, and some very expensive.  I've tried all but the very expensive and have been happy with the results.

My photos are stored on flickr and I used a photo editing software called Picnik for a couple of years. Both have a nominal yearly fee.  I love flickr and was very pleased with Picnik.  Gimp is a free photo editing software which I also liked and used along with Picnik. Goggle searches will bring up all three.

Currently I use Photo Shop Elements (PSE) with Topaz Lab plug-ins. The photos above were edited using PSE and the plug-ins.  You can Goggle these as well.  

Later blog posts will include basic editing using Picnik, PSE and Topaz.

This digital art series is one of the best sellers at my photo gallery.   

Take a look at this series and some of my other work which also includes 
<a href="http://fine art photography</a>