DISTRACTING HIGHLIGHTS

By Jim Zuckerman

In the courses I teach at Betterphoto, I often comment on highlights in the background that divert our attention from the subject. Our eyes are drawn to the lightest part of picture, no matter where in the frame the light area happens to be, and our attention returns to that light area again and again. Instead of focusing on the subject, we are diverted to other parts of the image too often, and that’s not the way a successful image is supposed to work.

Compare the two images below. This is a woman I photographed in a tribal region of India. I was shooting fast and didn’t notice the out of focus light area behind my subject until I took a couple of frames. To correct the problem, I moved a few inches to the side to use the woman’s body to block it from view. You can see how distracting that highlight is, and how much better the image is without it.

Backgrounds are virtually as important as the subject. Always be aware of what’s going on behind your subjects and your photography will improve significantly.

Comments

[Thomas Folke Andersen]

Hi Jim,

This is a really great point and I think the two images demonstrates that beautifully. The portrait is certainly very pleasing as well.

However, you say you moved a couple of inches to the left in this situation. However, to me, this looks more like a Photoshop job than actually taking a slightly different angle? The two images are sooo similar and in the second one her hair decoration has also vanished?

I think these points (specially in tuition) hit home much more strongly if the truth about the photograph and any alterations to it are revealed. While I don't have any objection to removing the highlight in Photoshop to improve the image, I just question if it it was really due to taking up a physically different angle while shooting?

[Ronal Walraven]

Good morning Jim,
Great job on this image. The two appear to be identical except for the hot spot above her shoulder and the barrett in her hair.