Ever since I was a child, I firmly believed that the more effort I put into something the better it would be. So it would seem to me that this would apply to photography, and it has. I always spend time lining up my shots and carefully considering all the edges and background elements before pushing the shutter. Well, almost always <wink> . For me, taking the time to carefully consider how to eliminate distracting background items in the field will save me lots of time in post processing. Backgrounds are just as important as the subject and require just as much thought and effort to get right. Bird photography is no different than flower photography in that sense.
To capture a pleasing image of a bird or flower, I want a clean (not necessary barren) background that will compliment my subject and not distract from it. Some busy backgrounds that have a cohesive feel to them can be ok, but I try to stay away from heavy, bold or interfering elements that draw the eye away from my subject unless they are in a nice juxtaposition.
No hard fast rules really apply but being mindful of your backgrounds and spending time in the field to get the right exposure, the best composition and make any final adjustments before snapping a shot usually leads to better results. Well, sometimes that is not possible. You may be with a group and they are moving on just as you found a good subject; you are forced to take a quick grab shot and hope for the best. Ugh… but at least you have a shot to work with and you may be able to work out the issues in post processing. That is exactly what happened to me with the tulip image below.
In post-processing I transformed the top petal to extend it a bit, I also did some background clean up and straightening, etc… I’m a huge fan of pink and green so this appealed to me.
Do you have a repair job or flower fix you’d like to share? Post it on my Facebook page in the post. I’d love to see it-be sure to tell us what you did.
