I have a tendency to wander around faire looking for a subject to shoot. Then when I spot a subject, I’ll bring the camera up and fire!
One of the things that I’ve learned (and sometimes even remember 😉 ) to do is to see what is behind the subject. The background can make a huge difference in the quality of the image.
Here are 2 photos, shot a few seconds apart from each other at Texas Renaissance Festival 2010…
Background hurts the image
Background stays in the background.
The image on the left is hurt by the background because the eye is pulled off the main subject by the bright sunshine in the background. It keeps your eye from staying with the subject.
The image on the right is better (in part) because now the background is not pulling the viewer’s attention from the subject of the photograph. Of course the image is also stronger compositionally and due to the fact that the subject (Lady Kat) is looking at the camera.
The amount of work it took to change the background? Taking about 2 steps to the left.
Once I had the background locked in, then I tuned the subject composition and the final image of the 3 images that I shot is the select at the top of this post.
Tip: Learn to look at the background in your camera’s viewfinder before pressing the shutter button.
