The background is very often overlooked by beginners and even more experienced photographers
I believe though that the background is much more important than the subject itself
If we're trying to tell a story with an image, the subject would be the main character but
everything else: the background, the edges, everything else in the image that is not the subject
it's what shows the context, it's what actually tells the story
For example, a sign in a parking lot might not be the most interesting subject
but when it's covered and buried in snow
it gives us some context, it tells a story and it makes for a good image
I usually look for simple and as minimal as possible backgrounds
because that makes your subject stand out. It makes your story come through much easier
Take a look at this other example, I took this picture of this tree on a foggy day
But the background is still a little bit messy, a little bit full of clutter
I just went to the other side of the tree and took the photo from that side and this is what I got
As you can see there is nothing in the background now, we have a path that leads to nowhere
It creates mystery
It makes the tree stand out more and it tells a much more compelling story than from the other side
This is what I mean when I say that the background is much more important than the subject
Today, I wanted to share with you some
ways, tips or ideas
To create more minimal backgrounds in your images. These are all techniques and things that I do in the field myself
So let's get started
The first one is an obvious one, it's something that we should be doing
every time we encounter an interesting subject
and it's to move. Not only we might be able to find more interesting angles
getting closer, further away
try different lenses, if we have a zoom lens just try different focal lengths lens, but also
because as I just showed in the previous example of the trees
Depending on where we take the photo from we might be able to simplify that background
if you shoot street photography, just move to the curb side of the sidewalk and shoot against the walls
that simplifies the background
shooting against the street where you have all the cars and much more clutter
This brings us to the second idea: try different angles
For example use a wide-angle lens and get low to the ground and point your camera up to capture the subject from there
This is what I did in this image
You can see the 2 trees. You wouldn't be able to tell just from this image
but the background was very busy and was very messy, but getting low and
Photographing some of the snow in the very very foreground and leaving some space
for the trees in the upper part of the image
I was able to create a more simple and minimalistic background for these 2 beautiful trees
the key here is to think of and try as many different angles as possible
Looking up, photographing the subject from above
Whatever it takes to make that background a little bit more simple
The third way to create minimalistic backgrounds, this is my favorite
Use the weather and the time of the day to your advantage
if your image contains some distant hills or mountains
with some trees or buildings then shooting in the middle of the day is gonna create a
Completely different image than the one that you could get shooting at sunrise or sunset
During sunrise and sunset obviously the sun is gonna be lower in the sky
so the angle the light hits the whole landscape
is gonna make that, depending on where you are, some of
the sides of those hills and mountains are gonna lose all of the detail in them
They're going to look just pretty much black and that's gonna make your background for your image much simpler and much easier
for the subject that you're trying to capture. I have a few examples that I'm going to show you
And of course, the weather. Rain and fog are awesome
I've said it before the fog is photographer's best friend
because subjects that would've never worked in any other
conditions, the fog makes those images work because it isolates the subjects so well
if you are on a very foggy day, you can go pretty much anywhere, no matter where you are and find
subjects to photograph
And it also makes for very dramatic and mysterious images of course
The 4th idea we could try to simplify the background would be to use a very fast lens
and shoot it at the widest aperture, of course. This doesn't work all the time, depending on the lens
we might need to be very close to the subject
but if we do it right, it can blur out the whole background making the subject stand out
This is my least preferred way to do it because the background still looks a little bit cluttered and messy
You can still see that there are things there
It's something we can try in the field
if we don't have the chance to go there when it's foggy or during sunrise or anything like that
So it's just another tool to keep in mind
The 5th is to use a backdrop
This is ideal for still life and portrait photography
I have a video where I made some still life photography with the Bronica, you can check it out there
I used a white backdrop to completely remove the background and focus the viewers attention
on the object that I was photographing
I actually thought about buying a huge backdrop
and bringing it with me to locations and place it behind trees to completely remove the background as well, but I would need help
and it's probably just a crazy idea, right?
The 6th and last idea I wanted to share with you today is another of my favorites, and is to use a long exposure
I've talked about this before, about the things that you can do with long exposures
You can smooth out the water. If you go a little bit longer and we are talking about several minutes here
You can make some clouds disappear, if they are moving fast enough
If not, you have to go even longer than that
You can make traffic disappear. For example this image of the St. John's Bridge in Portland
is a very good example of 2 ideas that I mentioned today that I'm using here
The first is the weather
The fog is removing all the background all the buildings and mountains that you can see the background
and the second one is a long exposure, so that way I could almost remove the traffic
you can still see the headlights and the rear lights
But I mean, you don't see the actual car, simplifying the whole thing so much more
These were the 6 ideas I wanted to share with you
These are things that I do, I actually practice them all the time to create more simple and minimalistic backgrounds
if anything, next time you're taking a photo of something that you think is really interesting
Think about the background and the edges first and then focus on your subject
Because there is always the risk that you believe you've made a great image because the subject was very interesting
but you get to your computer, load the image in there, and you find out that the background is too distracting
the edges are full of things and they are very messy. And the whole image just doesn't work
Just be more aware of the background and the edges is gonna make a huge difference in our photography
I hope this video was helpful
If you have any other ideas that you wanted to share, please leave them in the comments down below
For now, thank you so much for watching and see in the next one