What’s in a background? If you’re trying to create a beautiful portrait, your background either makes or breaks the mood, and can cause your portrait to go from okay to WOW.
Lets look at 7 common mistakes photographers make when choosing a background for their portraits.
1. Perspective. Where is your focus? Portraits are of people, not backgrounds. A stunning portrait will have the face of the subject in crystal clear focus, blurring out the background to make it separate from the subject. Depth of field is very important for perspective.
image source im4maui
2. Strange angles. Does your subject look uncomfortable? Does she look out of place? Or is everything shot from the same angle? Play around with your subjects. Spice things up. But make sure they look natural at the same time.
3. Double heads and multiple limbs. Have you ever seen a portrait with a tree growing out of the subject’s head? Or how about a stream of water pouring from an ear? Before you snap the picture, take a closer look at your subject to make sure your photograph will be flattering to your subject.
