Why you need some backgrounds

It does not matter if you are shooting in the garden, as I was here or out in situ, the background is very important and an intrinsic part of the image. Always scan around the image in the viewfinder or on the monitor before taking the picture and if you do not like the look of, do something about it.

Changing camera position is the obvious thing but you can just bring in your own background. It can be quick fix (piece of board, a seat cushion, a jumper or fleece) or more elaborate (like a print with a suitably blurry background). That is up to you, but always consider the options when shooting.

Above: The bluebells are in front of the greenhouse (left), hence the background is messy, but it is easily sorted. A sheet of white polyboard (middle) and a pink cushion (right) were held in position behind bluebells to give less a confusing background. The pictures were taken with a Nikon D700 with a Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens set to f/5.6 and macro mode.


You've read the article, now go take some fantastic images. You can then upload the pictures, plus any advice and suggestions you have into the dedicated Photo Month forum for everyone at ePHOTOzine to enjoy.