"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

Luke 6:41

And so, here I write again, this time regarding a very common situation we photographers often find ourselves in. It seems so basic. You go out and find a great place to take some pictures, and set up the tripod or whatever rig you use, and snap away some real gems. Great weather, check. It's not blowing and it's still, check. Exposure and everything on the mark, check.

You take your pictures, stop on the way home to have a bite to eat and maybe grab a coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and you get home. Time passes and you get to your pictures, and looking through them you start to notice things you didn't see when you were reviewing them on the camera screen.

One of them has a branch from a tree dangling in the corner of the frame. Another one has a person coming up the trail looking at you. Another one - oh how did that signpost get in the way. Yet another, and you ask, I got the telephone pole wires in there?

As you can guess, we photographers need to be aware of our surroundings. We need to pay careful attention to what is in our camera's line of sight. We need to make sure we don't have any unnecessary objects that can grab our attention from our subject being photographed. In other words, we need to avoid distractions.

One of the things I learned early on particularly when it came to building portfolios for microstock sites such as Shutterstock and Getty Images, etc., is that they are very particular and critical of submitted photos having these distractions in the image, and rightfully so.

It really does take away from a beautiful majestic view of something scenic and in the foreground you have someone walking by or a branch sticking out from the side; a glaring rusty pole sticking out like a sore thumb, or part of a bright umbrella in the corner edge, and so on.

Thankfully, these things can often be completely avoided by waiting a moment, looking around, and timing your shot. Even if you need to move a few feet to the left or right or forward, you can often fix the issue very quickly just by being aware of your surroundings. And yes, you won't always be able to crop out the issue...

More and more popular is the idea of just "Photoshopping" out the object with the "Spot Healing Brush tool," the "Remove tool," or "editing it in post(processing)" but I can tell you it is much easier to avoid the object(s) in your image to begin with.

Don't get me wrong, there will be times where these situations are unavoidable, especially if they're further in front of you and you can only move so far, but Adobe Photoshop (or other editing software) can be very helpful with that. Often times it's best to save yourself the effort and compose your shot without them where you can. Just something to be aware of!

As I reflect on the lesson taught by the Lord Jesus in that passage from the Gospel of Luke that started this article, I understand He was talking about something specifically different; about judging others and yet neglecting our own faults or sins. 

Yet interestingly, I believe there (can) be an application to this photography subject too, that we need to have an awareness of ourselves, our surroundings, and mindful of things we may be neglecting in our lives. And sometimes, ignoring that beam that is in front of our own eye, coming out of the foreground... In any case, paying attention to important detail and focusing on what we can do better ourselves with God's Help.

Hope that helps, and again please feel free to leave comments and questions. We are always happy to hear from you... By God's Grace I will be back next week with yet another one.

Until next time...