Tuesday Tip

Recently I've been brainstorming avenues in which I could share little photography tid-bits  with my readers. I knew I wanted it to be something I posted regularly on my blog, but envisioned it becoming a quick and easy tip that anyone could execute with their camera. Quick to read and easy to apply. Win-win, right? Finally, I came up with "Tuesday Tip." (oh how I love alliteration- can you tell I'm a teacher?)

My plan: Each Tuesday I'm going to share a little tip with you guys to enhance your photographs. I intend for these tips to be easy enough for anyone to use. So, whether you're a mom seeking better photographs of her kids, or someone looking to pursue photography, these tips can assist you (hopefully). People ask me all the time, "What's this?" or "How did you get your picture to look like that?" As I've said in the past, I think the most  effective way to grow is to learn from others and then share what I've learned. You know, spread the love a little. I never liked secrets anyways. 

This week's Tuesday Tip:

• When taking a photograph of a subject in front of a solid background (i.e. wall, door, window, building, etc.) move the subject at least 3 to 5 feet away from the backdrop. Why? By moving the subject away for the solid surface behind them,  you're going to enhance the subject. By doing this, the subject becomes the focal point rather than another object getting lost in the background. To take it a step further for those of you who are comfortable manipulating the aperture, moving the subject further out will create a smoother, blurrier background giving your subject the crisp pop that you want. The more depth of field (distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear), the more bokeh (blur). I've included these as links if you want to learn more.

See, not so bad, right? Bringing a subject off of it's backdrop was one of those huge realizations for me in the beginning. Trial and error of not getting the blur that I was seeking inevitably lead to me doing enough research and practice until I got it. 

Below I've included two images that'd I've recently taken. In the first image there is no distance between the subject and the backdrop. In the image below it, I've moved the subject about 5 feet away from the door. Can you see the difference? Although small, it counts. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope this helps! Feel free to drop a comment or question, I love love LOVE to hear from my readers :)

PS- I will be blogging about this little cutie pie later on in the week- and, guess what... she is having a book published about her and I have a little snippet of it to share. You're going to love it. Stay tuned.