Ritva is giving us a real treat this week – showing how to use the background to enhance our compositions. What makes your subject shine? A good background is essential to any picture.
Please visit Ritva’s beautiful site for more inspiration and examples!
I will choose some of my favourite techniques for the background to enhance the subject. Backlit late evening poppies create a positive, soft blur around the flowers. This is clearly one of my favourites as I often photograph insects and flowers.
Using negative space is efficient to highlight your subject against a minimal background. How lucky was I to see a woman in RED walking down the stairs when I had my camera ready?
We can harmonize or contrast colours for visual impact. Here I wanted to enhance the filmish feeling by using B&W.
Colour harmony again –
– to the left a totally green picture with an interesting, overgrown branch, and to the right the old red train running in the contrasting green surroundings.
A picture within a picture is something I really like. There are two from Japan, the first one in the header and on the left side here another one. We see a gardener talking to a young woman about ”his” garden while admiring it from the terrace. The picture filled staircase was photographed in a Danish castle, where you also can see another room through the window. There is much going on in this scene, but I decided to use it all in my image.
Lastly, two pictures from Tokyo Sky Tree, the first one taken through the framed glass floor and the second one where the city is set between window frames. In both cases, the subject is shining because of its dark surroundings. This applies to the header image too.
As I started with poppies, I will leave you with a poppy too – an enchanting flower. For this one, I was down on the ground and getting close. Deapth of field and back light make it stand out.
Last week we dwelled in the world of connections with Donna as our guide. We got lovely interpretations of connection, and many of them I had never even thought about!
A big thank you to Ritva for an innovative and excellent challenge, and be sure to link to her original post and use our tag. I am already looking forward to next week’s challenge with Egídio. Join him Saturday 12:00 EST to enjoy his beautiful photography, through Brazilian eyes.
Leya 
The poppies (both) and the woman in red are fantastic, Ann-Christine. I’m also partial to the picture within a picture of the Japanese garden. Such a lovely composition. A wonderful post, as expected, your photos are always so serene.
Great collection of backgrounds Ann Christine, but i have to say that second image with the negative space is my favourite, so good.
your photos are amazing, but they always are, love, LOVE the negative space with the woman in red. What a great capture. I really enjoyed the ones with leading lines making way to the background
Thank you, Ritva. So glad you liked them – and the lady in red is one of my all time favourite images. What luck!
You’ve captured some lovely images, I especially love the back lit poppies
Thank you – and yes, we just MUST love poppies, don’t we!
Love the poppies and the negative space image
Thank you, Nora – I guess they are the most loved ones so far.
I love, love your poppies! You chose wonderful images for this week’s challenge.
Thank you Marie, that was a lovely comnment!
Great examples! Unsurprisingly from you, the poppies stand out and I also love the header image and the woman in red on the stairs 🙂
Thank you, Sarah. It was an interesting challenge1
These are all fab, but in a crowded field, the most impactful is the woman in red on the stairs. What an eye you have!
Margaret, thank you – that picture is one of my all time favourites. What luck!
What is it about poppies? These are delightful. And your Japanese photos and the stillness. I don’t use Photoshop so I often struggle to stop the background being too busy, or just wrong, but it’s always fun trying.
Yes, what is it about poppies…I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love them. ♥
🤗❤️
Love the image of poppies…
Impossible not to love them!
Awesome post Ann-Christine. I loved the woman in red walking down the stairs.
Thank you, Anne, that one is one of my all time favourites.
😊
All beautiful images, Ann-Christine!
The woman in red is my absolute favorite, it reminds me of Cartier-Bresson.
♥ Thank you!
All about the woman in red Ann-Christine! That’s a marvelous image. And your closing poppy belongs on a wall. Had no idea what your image looking down thru glass was until reading and then my tummy actually did a flip!!! Great examples in your beautiful post
;-D Thank you, Tina!
Such a lovely post AC. Indeed a good background whether blurred or needed for the impact is essential. I have a feeling the negative space of the woman in red will be a favorite. I am also enamored with the picture in the picture of the garden. Beautiful
Thank you, Donna, this was a fun theme! And, I believe you are right about the woman in red.
Ann-Christine, what a lesson in composition this post is! Backlighting is amazing, and your photos prove that with beautiful examples. The woman in red and the red train leading line are two other superb photos. I especially like the red train leading line taking us to the back of the photo in gorgeous contrast with the greenery around. Fantastic images!
Thank you for your positive answer, Egidio! So glad you liked them. And the woman in red image is one of my all time favourites.
Pingback: Lens-Artists Challenge #304 – Behind - Bloggfeed
Nice examples Ann-Christine. My favorites are the women in red and B&W image.
Thank you!
Beautiful especially the poppies
I love poppies too!
Pingback: Lens-Artists Challenge #304 – Behind - Fotofeed