My biggest photographic pet peeve is when someone places  their subject right on top of their background.Here’s what I mean……….Hi Bobby, let’s go ahead and take your picture, just stand right here in front of this beautiful brick wall.

Your background and your subject are on an almost identical focal plane.This is a classic recipe for photographic disaster!Avoid it at all costs, it never pays off.

I always try to make things as easy and simple as I possibly can to create a great shot.Because of this, there are certain photographic situation that I wll never get myself stuck with.  This is definitely one of them.

Typically I will get as much space as possible between my subject and my background.This keeps the background nice and soft so it doesn’t distract at all from my subject.

Play around with this and you’ll see the dramatic difference it makes in your images.  Take your kid and pull her into the middle of your living room and plop down on the floor next to her and shoot away at f 2, letting the background go completely soft. 

Now go ahead and place your little girl right up next to that same background you were just shooitng towards and notice the difference.  This is an absolute “no brainer.”

Does this seem like it’s a little too easy?I hope not, simplicity is a common theme in almost all great images.The better you understand the principles of photography and lighting, the easier it will become for you to make great pictures.

You want to learn and master as many different photo and lighting techniques as you can so that you have the most options available to you as possible.This frees up your creativity no matter what kind of photographic situation you find yourself in.

The more arrows you have in your quiver, the better chance you have of getting a great shot.  This photographic technique is just one of many different arrows available to you as a photographer.