Foreground and Background

04. ACHIEVING DEPTH FOREGROUND AND BACKGROUND

YOUR IMAGE IS TWO-DIMENSIONAL and there’s no way around that. Trick viewers into seeing a three-dimensional image by making sure your photo has a foreground and a background that complement your subject. That requires composition to pay attention to more than the subject.

ZOOM WITH YOUR FEET

Sometimes you just have to get closer to your image. Zooming in from your camera stretches the pixels, or information contained, in the image. While the image may seem perfectly acceptable from the viewfinder, zooming results in gradually worse image quality.

SOME TIPS FROM OUR PROS:

1. CHANGE YOUR DISTANCE OR ELEVATION

Move closer or farther away and try photographing from above or below the subject.

2. CHANGE YOUR ANGLE

Try photographing from the side.

3. LEAVE SOME ROOM

If your subject is moving or looking in a certain direction, leave space in the image so viewers can participate.

If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.

Robert Capa, legendary photographer