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A good portrait reveals something about a subject’s character. A simple smile, an intent stare, a subtle turn of the head, or overall body stance all help to bring out who he or she is. If elements within the frame compete for the subject’s attention, it makes it difficult to discern the nuances in the subject’s face that help communicate the subject’s character. One fault that appears in many beginning photographer’s portraits is how they handle the background. A good rule of thumb is to keep it as simple as possible.

To me, as with any subject, the background is equally as important as the main subject. If the background is busy and doesn’t complement the subject, it will compete for attention. In portraiture, the obvious focal point should be the subject. But a busy background prevents the eye from focusing on the person. Learning how to control the background will bring you to the next level in your portraiture.

The simplest way to begin to improve your portraits is to place your subject against as plain a background as you can find. This may sound basic, but it’s often overlooked. Sometimes though, this isn’t possible. With this in mind, by applying the following techniques you can take charge of many situations throwing the background as far out of focus as possible.

1) Always shoot in aperture priority and use the widest aperture on your lens.
2) Use focal lengths of 100mm or longer. Wide angle portraiture can net some great images but requires a different set of techniques to be successful.
3) Keep you subject as far away as possible from any background elements.
4) Keep your subject as large as possible in the frame.

The above four techniques create shallow depth. Combined, they will produce sharp subjects with out of focus backgrounds. Place the autofocus sensor on the subject’s eyes, lock this focus point by pressing half way down on the shutter, recompose the picture, and press the shutter. In both of the before / after examples that accompany this article, the above techniques were applied to create the image with the out of focus backgrounds. In the before images, a small f stop was used bringing the background into focus resulting in one that competes for attention with the subject.

To learn more about this topic, join me on one of my Photographic Nature Tours. Visit www.russburdenphotography.com and click on the NATURE TOURS button for more information. Also, pick up a copy of my new book, Amphoto’s Complete Book of Photography. You can purchase a signed copy directly from me or visit your local book store or Amazon. Contact me at rburden@ecentral.com to order your signed copy.

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