Getting Better Fast - Making Background Work For You
In the last post on backgrounds, I approached the subject of backgrounds with the idea of eliminating distractions that hurt your photos. Now, let’s look at how to make your background work for you. We don’t have total control over the background in most photojournalism situations. In most breaking situations you don’t have the time to even worry about the background. When you have time to work a photo you should really try to get the background to help tell the story.
Sometimes you just get lucky, or unlucky, with the background; however, like the old saying goes, luck favors the prepared. When you first approach a situation look at backgrounds. What will you shoot your subject against, even in an action situation. Is there a background that will contribute to the photo and also, is there a background you want to avoid? This is also a good time to figure out the best lens choice. Now, when the moment happens, you are prepared.
I have three photos with to show you here. The first is a stand alone photo of a kid fishing. I was able to make use of a high embankment and get above him which allowed me to isolate him against the water which was also reflecting the sunset clouds. By the way, this photo is also strobed. I set an SB8oo on a light stand and put it in the edge of the lake to give me a little bit of separation and a nice little kicker. I used a D2h and an 80-200 lens and fired the strobe using a Pocket Wizard set. Adding the strobe allowed me to go a little under on the water without losing detail in the boy.
The next photo is from a mud volleyball tournament held every year in Athens, Alabama to raise money for the elderly and homebound. I was waiting for someone to go header into the mud hoping that they would come up facing me. That never happened but when this girl did her own version of a face plant I was able to use the people watching to get a nice photo where the background helps tell the story. You can’t see the front of the girl but you can see the other people reacting to what they see. This photo was shot available light with a D2h and a 17-35mm lens.
The last photo is also a D2h and 17-35mm shot. Decatur hosts the NAIA National Softball Championship Tournament and it is one of the highlights of my year. I love to shoot that tournament. This was the championship day and I actually had to leave before the game ended to go shoot something else. Hoping that something would still be going on when I got back, I hustled through the job and found that the tournament had ended by the time I returned. Fortunately for me there was still some celebrating going on. The girl hugging her father turned out to be the tournament MVP and her teammates in the background are holding up their championship banner for a photo. I probably could have done no better even if I had been there at the end of the game. The foreground shows the emotion and the background tells you why. I love it when things come together.
When you are out shooting, plan and prepare as much as you can but be prepared for change. Don’t over focus on the background because you run the risk of losing site of the main subject. Keep your eyes open and work your angles and lenses to maximize the background. Some of the time a wide zoom will be appropriate and other times a long zoom will be the better choice. You have to make that determination on the scene. After you have done this for a while, you won’t even be thinking about the background consciously. You will simply develop a “sixth sense” for backgrounds and you will be shooting instinctively.
Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
In the final shot, why not move a little to the right so that the father’s head covers over the guy taking a picture of the banner? Thank you for another great post. I have been working lately on cleaning up my backgrounds and these two posts have been a great resource. It’s a great blog.
Robert
Thanks for these. Been reading your blog for a number of months now. When I see you’ve posted I know I’m always going to enjoy it, and I’m usually going to learn something! Cheers.
Topslakr:
I understand what you mean, that it would be a cleaner shot if you didn’t see the person taking the picture of them holding the banner, and I have do disagree.
If I could change something (which often you can’t because these situations change themselves quickly enough) I MIGHT move the picture taker a bit to the left, and get a bit of seperation from the folks in the foreground.
But I would have taken this shot first if that’s what was in front of me, and tried to get another shot I liked better.
The picture taker, though, is critical to the context of the photo.
Without the picture taker, it looks like a set up photo because you don’t know why they are holding the banner up in the background.
If it was a static banner (on a wall or something) and someone were taking a picture next to it in the background, that would be a whole different situation.
As is, I like it a lot.
When I was shooting this photo I really wanted to keep the guy shooting the group photo in the frame for context. Otherwise, I agree with Pete that it would look like a set up of some kind. The hug was there and gone in a moment so there was not a lot of time to worry over framing. That is one of the drawback to photojournalism. You have to shoot real and sometimes that makes for less than perfect compositions.
Gary