Do you notice anything, I don't know... out of place in this photo? No? Ok good, that makes me feel much better. Here, I'll give you a hint. I'm pretty sure that black graffiti above Bella isn't supposed to be a lotus flower. You'd think I'd have realized this
before or even
during this mini shoot, considering I took about 40 pictures here! On top of that, before taking this shot, I'd read a bazillion critiques on the photography forum I'm a member of, and the reoccurring criticism was that the background was distracting.
I'm apparently not distracted, or even aware of graffitied penises on walls, or stake-like trees that go right through children's bellies. But you should be. This is one of those kinds of tips - "do as I say, not as I do" (but really, all of my tips are going to be like, because I'm not a professional. And I'm not a robot. And I'm certainly not a professional robot, so I'm going to make many many photography-related errors, and you will too. At the end of the day, though, we can still pat ourselves on the back and have a good laugh at all the ridiculous things we did throughout day, knowing that it was already in the cards to begin with.)
So, my tip of the week?
Pay attention to the background.
You want to watch out for any distractions in the background. This includes bright colored objects, garbage cans, trees and poles growing out of heads, and signs (anatomical graffiti included, of course). A the moment, I am reading a book about composition and the author was talking about how much the eye is attracted to writing in paintings and photographs. Interesting stuff.
Another thing to try to avoid is a lot of clutter. If you have the choice between a plain wall and toys scattered and strewn across the floor, choose the wall (unless, of course you want to include the toys as content).
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| I didn't have time to clean up, but I wish I could have removed some of the clutter. |
Obviously there will be times when you just don't have the option of choosing your background because the moment is more important, but when you have a little extra time to compose, take a look around and see what is right behind your subject.
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| I adore this shot. Too bad she looks like Daisy-Head Maiyze. |
