Improve the backgrounds in your photos with these easy steps!

The background in your photos can quickly reveal to the trained eye your skill level as a photographer. Teaching yourself to see past the exciting subjects in front of you, so that you can catch the details in the background, is what will distinguish you from a beginning, hobbyist photographer to an experienced professional. Learning just this skill can very quickly elevate and improve your photography.

Sounds easy enough, right?

Well, not so much in reality. Life is messy, people are everywhere and we are always short on time.  Making good photos requires attention to details and patience way more that expensive cameras and a brand new lenses.

So, how can you improve the backgrounds in your photos, simplify them and make them more powerful? Most times this will be an easy enough step like changing your perspective or using a shallow aperture / blurring out the background. 

Where to start?

Before photographing your main subjects (people, tourist attractions even landscapes) make sure to explore the scene and decide how your final image will look like. Search for good light, interesting angles and last but not least, look for a clean background!

Most new photographers completely forget about the background in their images. I get it! I also get exited visiting new and interested places and can’t wait to start photographing. By all means do that. But after you have satisfied your excitement, please slow down and explore the scene.

When photographing portraits: make sure you choose a homogenous and simple background that is contrasting with your subject, like a nice simple, brick or glass wall, the sky or even the ground. Sure, using a shallow depth of field (for example taking photos at F/1.8 and lower) will render your background smoother, but will not make it better. Always try to find background that is equally as interesting as your subject, is part of the story and will add value to your image. Having bright spots or strong colours may be distracting, so watch out for that as well and try to incorporate them as best as you can. Tip: Did you know that when looking at a photograph your eye will first see its brightest part?

Take a look at the following examples:

If you are going to include the sky in your photos pay attention to where the horizon is. There is nothing more distracting in portraits than having the horizon line (or any other lines for that matter) go trough your subject’s heads. Moving your camera slightly higher or lower will fix that in a second and your background will be much simpler and your photo stronger. It is the small details that will make your photos stand out.

Take a look at the following examples:

When photographing tourist attractions: you can follow the same advice as with the portrait taking, it will work most of the time – change your camera angle (go low or high) in order to clean the background. A more creative angle will also make your photos more interesting.

Take a look at the following example:

When photographing landscapes: choose your scene in such a way that you don’t have distracting elements in the background – poles, lamps, signs, cars, etc. Make sure to include in your scene only the elements you really need. If something does not contribute to the overall photo idea, don’t photograph it.

Take a look at the following example:

Taking photos with clean and interesting backgrounds is hard work, that will definitely pay off. Sometimes it will not be possible and then it is up to you to decide if you want to have that photo or not.

Just follow your creative instincts 😉

Would you like to know more about how to improve the backgrounds in your photos? Please make sure you check my photography workshops in Brussels – you might find something you like 🙂