“A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.”

Joel 2:3

When I started this series a while back, I prefaced it by saying that many of these points were items that I had learned from making mistakes in my photographic journey, learning the hard way, and wanting to share these experiences so that they could provide helpful advice for those of you either getting started in photography or maybe even those who have been doing it for a while, and might not be aware of these things. Either way, I wanted to briefly touch on another point that I feel would be very helpful.

If you read my earlier post a ways back, Simple Tips for Better Pics 3: Don't Get Distracted! I again build off this topic by emphasizing the importance of being aware of distractions in your image; this time however it is important to focus on one thing in particular that can be just as detracting as objects that distract from your subject... And that would be - what are you composing not for your subject, but rather for your background behind it?

You see, it is a common mistake - especially in nature photography, that we are so occupied by what we are focusing on we forget what's going to end up behind it. It can sometimes come down to just moving a foot or two, or even a few inches, to get the backdrop we desire that compliments our image and avoids any unnecessary and unappealing backgrounds.

Below are two examples of a sunflower we have growing in our backyard. I took these of the same flower, minutes apart, from slightly different angles. Take a look and see which one just looks more easy on the eyes:

Granted, anytime there's a beautiful sunflower in a picture it can be hard to fault it, but for this example - what I specifically try to avoid is any bright sky that would contrast with the darker green foliage like the image on the left. The one on the right has a more consistent green background throughout, and that allows the viewer to focus more on the flower itself, taking in more of the details without getting distracted by the bright cloudy sky in the upper area of the other one.

Different situations will present different concerns, but this is one of the things I wish I paid much more attention to when I started my career, and the thing is it really is so easy to avoid and plan around it... Something to be mindful of is all...

The Scripture verse from Joel speaks of the Coming of The Lord at the end of time, and the gravity of that passage is definitely a very sobering one. Of course, for the sake of a photography analogy, the context is very different, yet there is an interesting comparison to be made regarding the visual details described that do line up with those images. Again, I marvel how things I learn in photography once again compliment Scripture in some way, shape, or form. Not a coincidence!

Thank you for joining me on this article, and I hope it was helpful!

Until next time...