It's Always Autumn

creative tutorials for everyday life

  • Holidays
  • Holidays
    • back to school
    • birthdays
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Halloween
    • July 4th
    • Mother’s Day/Father’s Day
    • teacher appreciation
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s
  • Crafts
  • Crafts
    • crafts + DIY
    • handmade gifts
    • photo crafts
    • kid crafts + activities
  • Recipes
  • Recipes
    • bread
    • dessert
    • main dish
    • side dish
  • Sewing
  • Sewing
    • free sewing patterns
    • sewing for women
    • sewing for kids
    • how to sew
    • gifts
  • Photography
  • Photography
    • beginning photography tips
    • posing tips
    • photo editing tips
  • Tips
  • Tips
    • parenting tips
    • travel tips
    • books I love
  • FAQ

beginning photography tips photography
March 22, 2013

eight steps to better photos on auto {step 3: eliminate distractions}

This is the third installment of Eight Steps to Better Photos on AUTO. Most people think the only way to really improve their photos is to learn to shoot on manual mode, and it’s true that using manual gives you the most control over the finished photo. But what if you don’t have the time or energy to invest in learning about exposure and aperture and all the other details of manual? That’s where this series comes in. There are plenty of things you can do to greatly improve your photos even when shooting on auto, and every Friday for the next eight weeks I’ll share one of them with you. Step one | Step two | Step three | Step four | Step five | Step six | Step seven | Step eight

a photo of a little boy with grass, trees, cars in the background; a closeup of little boy with plain background

 

Here’s a fun little story to start things off today: last summer I was visiting my parents and we decided to take advantage of their nice backyard to snap a family photo. It’s kind of a miserable process trying to get a good family photo when your family includes five kids under the age of 12, and we spent a good twenty minutes cajoling, bribing, and threatening kids to sit down and look at the camera while one of my sisters took 75 pictures of us. I figured I could do some head swapping and come up with something good enough, right? Well, I looked through all the pictures, focusing on finding the ones with the best expressions so I could start compiling things into one nice photo. That’s when I realized that due to the child on my lap pulling at my dress my bra was clearly visible in every single photo. Very visible. Visible in a I-don’t-think-I-can-fix-that-in-Photoshop way. It’s the only thing I see when I look at those pictures now. All that work to get a family photo and one silly but extremely distracting detail means it’s never going up on my wall.

Today’s post is called “eliminate distracting elements” but it could just as easily be called “actually LOOK at what you are taking a picture of and make adjustments if needed before you waste a whole bunch of time and end up super disappointed because there’s a dumb tree/piece of trash/undergarment in the way that’s ruining the entire photo!” Take this picture for example:

A young boy sitting near a baby

I LOVE it. Well, I love the interaction between big brother and little brother – it’s adorable, right? When I was taking the photo I was so focused on the two boys that I didn’t notice the way the couch cushions in the background formed a big black line down from my older son’s chin. But as soon as I looked at the photo on my computer I noticed it, and it drives me crazy. It’s not a huge deal (not like someone’s underwear hanging out 😉 but if I had been paying a little more attention while I was taking photos I could have stepped to the left slightly – one little step and the distracting element would have been behind my son, not visible in the photo.

This happens all the time – we get so focused on the person or thing we are photographing that we don’t notice there’s a leaf in front of their face, or hair out of place, or a pole growing out of the top of their head. We don’t notice until we look at the picture later and it’s too late. Here are some examples to help you learn to start paying attention to distracting elements and eliminate them from your photos:

Hair & clothes: The photo below is adorable. The little girl’s hair is all over her neck, but who cares – she’s a cute little girl, right? But what if you take a photo of your teenage girl with messy hair? She’s going to hate you and make you vow not to let anyone see it. Check for stray hairs that go across the face, or errant bra straps, or a bunched up shirt that makes your subject look like she has belly rolls. Notice if your subject is sitting all slumped over, or is wearing a ball cap that shadows most of his face, etc. These are things you can’t edit out after the fact, so fix them before you take the photo.

A little girl smiling at the camera with messy hair across her neck

Hands & arms: Pay attention to how peoples’ hands and arms look, especially when you’re photographing multiple people and some of them have their arms around each other’s shoulders. Sometimes it ends up looking like a disembodied hand is just hanging out on someone else’s shoulders – it can look kind of creepy. Also pay attention to hands in pockets – it looks weird when some fingers are in the pocket and some are out – you can get the feeling that some of the fingers are actually missing, like in this sweet photo below. It’s another photo I really love, but that missing pinky finger kind of drives me crazy…

A baby with hand under his chin; one of the fingers is folded in so not visible

Distractions in the background: no one wants a tree growing out of their head in a photo, and I’m pretty sure no one wants someone else’s bum right by their head either. If you get in this situation you DO NOT NEED TO MAKE YOUR SUBJECT MOVE. Just take a step to the right or the left so the background distraction is no longer visible.

photo of a boy at the beach with another little boy right behind his head

When you have your son pose for a photo on a bridge, try not to position him right next to the bird mess…

a boy standing next to a fence with bird mess on it

Wrinkled backdrop: I’ve recommended before using a plain blanket as a backdrop for photos – and I’ve even shown you how to use Photoshop to get rid of the wrinkles in it. You can do lots to fix your photos in Photoshop, but it’s so much easier to just fix them before you take the picture! Smooth out your background blanket before you start shooting and you’ll save a lot of time after the fact.

A little boy holding a teddy bear with a wrinkled blanket background

Very bright areas in the background: Bright spots in a photo grab and hold our attention. Look at this photo:

A girl that is sitting in the grass, some grass is in the shade and some is in the sun so it\'s way brighter

The first thing I see is not the person in the photo (which is a shame since she’s so unbelieveably gorgeous, right?) It’s the patch of neon green grass in the top corner. The girl and/or photographer should have moved so that all the grass in the background was in the shade. That way there wouldn’t have been a big patch of bright neonness to distract from my, I mean that nice girl’s beauty. Here’s another example:

A woman sitting in front of a building with a bright white opening just above her head; same photo without the bright white spot

When I was taking the photo I didn’t even notice the window behind the girl’s head, but it’s so distracting in the photo. I was able to photoshop it out, but it took a LONG time and it’s not perfect.

Here are a few more examples to help you see how easy it is to eliminate distractions and what a big difference it can make. Often all you need to do is change your position slightly:

photo of boys in front of a door with a gold doorknob in the background; same photo taken from higher perspective so doorknob isn\'t there

photo of a little boy on the sidewalk; same photo taken from above so only sidewalk shows in background

Or ask the person you’re photographing to move slightly.

photo of boy playing in snow with distractions in the background; photo taken from different angle so there\'s only snow in the background

Often small distractions don’t totally ruin a photo, but removing the distractions almost always improves it.

photo of man and woman where horizon line goes through their heads; photo taken from higher above so just grass is in background

photo of boy with weeds in front of his face; photo of boy without weeds in the way

That’s it for today – if you’ve missed any of the other installments, click on the photos below to see all the other posts:

A photo of a baby boy with harsh shadows, then a well lit photo of same baby boy  A photo of a young boy taken outside with flat blue light, then a photo of same boy with pleasant golden side lighting  a photo of a little boy with grass, trees, cars in the background; a closeup of little boy with plain background  A photo of a little girl in a hat with various colors in the background, then photo of same little girl with plain white background

Photo of girl and boy playing with toy with furniture in the background; then closeup photo of little boy playing with toys  photo of boys shooting basketball taken from side and far away; closer up photo of boys taken from straight ahead  A close up of a boy with grass and dirt in focus in the background; close up of same boy with background blurred out  blurry photo of boys laughing; in focus photos of boys laughing

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Print

Home » photography » beginning photography tips » eight steps to better photos on auto {step 3: eliminate distractions}


2 Comments

free email series

NO FAIL CRAFTS + RECIPES

Get my favorite EASY craft and recipe ideas straight to your inbox!

« 8 steps to better photos on auto {step 2: outdoor light}
eight steps to better photos on AUTO {step 4: find a better background} »

Comments

  1. Rachel says

    November 29, 2015 at 3:45 pm

    Your tips are great and super easy to follow and understand. My family and I are headed to Europe next summer. Do you have any tips for taking pictures in low light ie. Cathedrals etc. Also tips for still taking decent photos in rainy or less than ideal weather. I’d like to think we can go back someday but trips like this have a way of being once in a lifetime and I don’t want to miss a shot. Thanks

    Reply
  2. Annika says

    March 29, 2013 at 12:03 am

    I just wanted to say that I truely love all your posts on photography. They are clearly written and with all the pictures in addition all these things are really easy to understand! Thanks a lot. My picture taking skills are already improving…

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Hey, glad you’re here!

I'm Autumn, a mom of five who loves ice cream, Masterpiece Theatre, and clothes that hide the fact that I eat so much ice cream. When I was 18 I got a job at a craft store and told everyone (regularly) how much I hated crafts. Well, things change! Read More…

Find me here

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

free email series

NO FAIL CRAFTS + RECIPES

Get my favorite craft + recipe ideas straight to your inbox!

Popular Posts

101 fun activities that kids can do at home list on a colorful striped background

101 Fun + Easy Activities kids can do AT HOME

50 easy crafts and activities kids can do indoors! Perfect for cold or rainy days.

50 best indoor activities for kids: easy crafts + games

Gorgeous art projects for kids! Easy art that turns out amazing.

20 easy art projects for kids that turn out AMAZING!

Collage of different paper flowers tutorials

How to make GORGEOUS paper flowers

Various flavors of baked mini donuts made from cake mixes

How to make mini donuts! {baked cake mix donuts recipe}

Blog policy

All posts and pictures are copyrighted by Autumn Baldwin and blog content may not be reposted elsewhere. However, linking back to my content is just fine. You may use one photo as long as you link directly back to the specific post. Thank you!

Please view our Privacy Policy here.

Also, please note that this blog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Copyright © 2021 · Divine theme by Restored 316192.168.1.1 router login

Copyright © 2021 · Divine Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in