How To: Not Lose Your Subject
We’ve all seen the picture of auntie on the beach. The one you said, “isn’t that a lovely picture of a beach”, only to be told it was a picture of auntie. Auntie, it turns out was the multi-coloured dot, just to the left of the big rock. The problem was, you couldn’t see auntie because she was such a small part of the picture.
Make your subject the main focus; don’t let it fade into the background. By making the person, building, animal, plant or whatever you are photographing the main focus, engages your viewer.
Welcome to our “How To” blogs. In this series of short articles, we’re covering all aspects of photography. Whether you want to take better pictures using your smart phone, or digital camera or maybe you need to commission images, we will have something for you. Grab your camera and learn how to improve your image with pictures.
Take a step closer to your subject before you press the button. With modern cameras showing us exactly what we get, we still make the mistake of not seeing what we are going to take. We concentrate so much on the subject; we don’t notice it, in the context of the whole frame.
To avoid the auntie picture, follow a couple of simple tips. Get close to your subject. Use the zoom feature on your camera, if you have one. Think about how much of the person you need in the picture, could you tell your story, with just part of the person in frame. If you want to see what your dinner looked like, don’t include half the restaurant.
Want your subject to standout? Place it in front of a dark background or against a shadow. When your subject is in the light and the background is dark, it stands out.
Move around your subject. Find a position that throws your subject forward in the frame, making the background less important. Check to see if you have something very light in the background. Is it distracting away from your subject.
Maybe you want your subject to appear in context. Someone or something sitting in a landscape, ensure you have a bit of space around your subject. The gap helps define the subject and makes it stand out.
It’s all about thinking what story do I want to tell. What do I want my viewers to see? Every image has some sort of story. As photographers we must lead our views into the story we want to tell.
That’s it for this one. Short on time but want Maximum impact on social media – look out for our next blog in our “How To” series. Can’t wait that long? Our personal training covers all aspects of photography helping you make a good first impression and click here stand out from the crowd.
If you have any comment or suggestions about this or other posts in the How To series we would love to hear from you.
Previous posts in How To: series
How To: Take better landscapes
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