Composition: The Importance of Backgrounds

A Lesson in Composition and How to Avoid Poor Backgrounds in Your Photos

I was at a competition recently where a few images show had issues with the backgrounds and the judge commented that a slight movement would have vastly improved the images by removing background clutter. This gives some advice on how to remove background objects from your photos.

It is crucially important to always look at the background behind the subject not just the subject themselves. A slight change in position to the left or right, up or down can often make all the difference to a photo looking professionally composed or being just a snapshot.

The two example shots below show how easy it is to recompose a shot to remove background clutter and to give a nice neutral out of focus background to your photos.

shots were taken with the Canon 600D and the 35-80 USM lens.

 These shots of our cat were taken in the garden at home. The first shot above shows the legs of the children's climbing frame that are distracting and ruin the shot. The shot below was taken from a very slightly different viewpoint by raising myself slightly up thus giving a different angle towards the cat. This mean that the climbing frame was no longer in shot and all the background behind the cat is a nice soft neutral colour.

shots were taken with the Canon 600D and the 35-80 USM lens.

So as you can see above it is very easy to adjust the position for taking a photo that will vastly improve the background and make the subject stand out as they should. These shots were taken with the Canon 600D and the 35-80 USM lens.