Foto Friday, a day late

underwater world, originally uploaded by sgrbear724.

The second week of my personal commitment to post photo tips on Fridays, and I'm already a day late! I do have good reasons, though none need be shared here. You'll just have to trust me on that.

Sorry to all three of you interested in participating!! But on the bright side~better late than never! AND~ I'll do better I promise.

~~~

So last week I mentioned the importance of a background being as uncluttered and undistracting as possible. Anyone challenge themselves to check, double check, triple check their backgrounds? I hope so! Because if you did, I bet you noticed quite a bit of difference in your photos! And if you feel like sharing~I'd love a link to check out!

THIS week we have a variation on a theme...still I'd like to talk about backgorunds, but THIS week, I'm going to talk to you about BREAKING the distracting background rule.

SOMETIMES, the background is important! Backgrounds lend feelings to a photograph. If you want to feel serene and calm, nothing will get you there faster than to gaze at a photo of winding road fading in the fog hovering over a wheatfield. If you want to feel intensity or hustle-bustle, nothing will get you there faster than a photo taken on the bustling streets of Vegas or NYC. Sometimes serene is what we are looking to portray and sometimes, it BUSTLE.

In other instances, the background BECOMES the subject. As in the above photo of Corynn at the aquarium. Corynn was not the main focus of the photo here. In fact, she was quite small. I put her in there only as a scale for the fish and to record her excitement over the fish (because, after all, I am a Mama and we had never been to an aquarium before) but what was she excited ABOUT?!? The fish. Therefore, they needed to be the prominant part of the photograph.

The same is true for this photo of Matt and the childer-two on our trip to Harrisburg. I could snap a picture of my handsome hubby pushing a stroller anytime, that's nothing really special...it was the scene surrounding him that made the moment, so naturally it needed to be included. I could have just snapped one of him close just to record him but HE was not the subject of the photo. We were scoping out the city so we had to SEE city in order for the photograph to later evoke what we were experiencing that moment.



So you see, background is a powerful thing! A background can RUIN a perfectly good photograph if one is not careful~with too much clutter, or random trees sticking out of peoples' heads

OR

It can evoke feelings of nostalgia, bring excitement or calm and really MAKE a photograph.

This week, try to find a background worthy of "subject status" and bring the background forward.

Remember though~get to the point. If it is the background that is the subject, don't muddy up the foreground with all sorts of excess.
Your eyes must be drawn to the subject in order to create a good photograph. If you don't know where to look first, then you have failed.

Have fun!!!!