Okay, we’ve dealt with the subject of the photograph, now let’s take a look at the rest of the frame. For the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to refer to everything in a photo that’s not the main subject as the background. I mentioned earlier that the subject must be presented in a clear manner in order for an image to be a “quick read.” However, the background plays a huge part in this whole process of presenting the subject.
Many times the problem is that the background fights for your attention. Your job is to set up the shot or position yourself so that there are no unwanted, distracting elements in the frame competing with the subject. In this basketball game photo, the background is integral to the scene and it doesn’t detract from the true subject matter. They work together.
Negative Space. In art, negative space generally refers to an area of a composition that’s not occupied by anything of substance. Positive space is where the shapes and forms and things live – the elements that are recognizable as “something.” With negative space, there’s nothing there.
Here’s an example using flowers, shot in my home studio.
This is a studio shot that I did to illustrate the notion of springtime. Lots of sky there, right? Well, it’s actually a blue background, but it certainly looks like sky. And that’s the point. That part of the image serves the function of looking like the sky. We think it’s the sky because it’s the color of the sky, and flowers grow outside, so it must be the sky. Actually it is only blue, sky-colored space around the flowers. It “feels” like we’re viewing daffodils against the sky. The flowers live in an open, airy place . . . outside! This is a very comfortable image to look at because the flowers have lots of empty space to sway in the wind; we can even imagine a fluffy white cloud rolling in at some point. Hey, there’s one now!
The same scene, re-composed vertically with a cloud added becomes a different shot altogether. There is far less negative space almost none. That space is now occupied by a cloud, which has become a very real element of the shot. However, that part of the image is quite useful to someone designing an advertisement using either version. The cloudless version affords lots of space in which to put ad copy (text) or some other graphic element. The version with the cloud gives a designer a perfect spot in which to put black text, or they could remove the cloud, replace it with that same blue color, and have a vertical version of the shot that would fit a printed page format very nicely. These two images combined have sold nearly 400 times on iStockphoto.com.
Example two.
This Jersey cow you see here was photographed in a livestock barn at the Minnesota State Fair. She’s looking straight ahead, into the space – almost as if she’s about to enter it. In reality, she’s chained to the wall and she’s not going anywhere. But by virtue of the fact that she’s looking into the space, that’s where your eye goes, even though there’s nothing there . . . except for the wall. So there’s a little something for you to look at, but not much. I’m guessing that just about every time this shot’s been used, there has been some ad copy or a smaller image dropped into the area of the wall.
And one more example, this time a photo of nothing but snow and sky. Again, the sky (negative space) does the easy work here while the snowdrift does all the heavy lifting to keep this shot together. This is actual sky, and real snow too! It was very cold on that December day, and I had quite a scare when I slid down the side of a roadside drainage ditch, thinking the water in it would be frozen. Wrong! It was water all right, but it was definitely not frozen. The heavy snow had insulated the water and had kept it from freezing. As I slid down the bank, I hit the water and my heavy boots went under. I scrambled back up, and propped myself against the wall of snow. It didn't feel very safe, but at least I wasn't going anywhere. I got the shots I wanted, and this was among them. Simple, beautiful forms of windblown snow against a vivid blue sky. The composition, as you can see, is about half snow and half sky. The sky becomes the negative space, but it supports the feeling of snow and cold because blue is a cool color, and we all know snow is not warm! Once again, the negative space performs a very important supporting role.
Clean Backgrounds. It’s quick and easy to find a discussion, somewhere online, about so-called pure photography versus digitally manipulated imagery. Fortunately, you need not concern yourself with the philosophical implications of digital alterations in stock photography. You, fellow photographer, are a commercial artist. The advertising community will use your images to illustrate a concept, and the image needs to convey a message. The cat is out of the bag on digital manipulation, and it’s never going back in. Any part of the image that muddies up the message should go. Removing unwanted elements from the background of a shot that’s going to be used for advertising is just plain smart, and in some cases will be expected. Again, your job is to produce clean, attractive images. Even beyond that, if you are submitting for royalty-free sales, you will be required to remove logos, license plate numbers, commercial signs – anything that could make reference to an actual company or trademark, person, or identity of any sort. Royalty-free imagery needs to be void of any identifiers or intellectual property.
The two versions that follow of the same photograph illustrate the kinds of markings that need to be removed digitally in order to make a photograph marketable as a royalty-free image. Ninety five percent of this work was done in Photoshop with the pixel cloning tool. The remainder was done by cutting and pasting portions of the shot from one area to another.
The original shot of a small-town scene is shown below; the cleaned-up version follows.
The identity of this small town is preserved by the changes made to this photo. It can be used effectively as a royalty-free photo. There are no uniquely identifying features.
Taking it Further
Here is an exercise that will help you learn how to simplify your images and clean up cluttered backgrounds in-camera. Grab your camera, put on any normal to telephoto-length lens (not wide angle) and head outside. Now choose a subject. Looking through the camera, choose a subject in the foreground. Now shift your gaze to the background of the image, and move a few feet to your right, while watching, through the lens, what happens to the background elements. (Try not to step into the swimming pool or the street!)
Can you see a telephone pole or street sign in the shot? Notice how it’s relationship to the subject changes as you move? If your subject is a person or group of people, moving a couple of feet to the right might move that street sign so that it no longer appears to be growing out of someone’s head.
You can use this same technique to hide license plates, building signs, etc. Perhaps by reorienting yourself, an ugly steel pole can be hidden behind a tree. I use this approach all the time to keep my backgrounds clean. It’s far faster to