can someone help me with this?

[jiro]

Digital Darkroom Workshop at Willie's next week?

- Bill

[rob marshall]

Digital Darkroom Workshop at Willie's next week?

That reminds me of that great one-liner that Mrs Thatcher came out with in the early 1980's. She was referring to the support and strength she gained from William Whitelaw (one of her ministers). She said...

Every Prime Minister needs a Willie...

[jiro]

That reminds me of that great one-liner that Mrs Thatcher came out with in the early 1980's. She was referring to the support and strength she gained from William Whitelaw (one of her ministers). She said...

You just made my morning great, Rob. Hehehe. Thanks!

[ktuli]

You just made my morning great, Rob. Hehehe. Thanks!

And later today, Willie's signature changes to "Every Prime Minister needs a Willie... -- Margaret Thatcher"

And discussion continues in the Quote, Unquote thread...

[jiro]

And later today, Willie's signature changes to "Every Prime Minister needs a Willie... -- Margaret Thatcher"

And discussion continues in the Quote, Unquote thread...

I'll stick to my original signature, Bill. I like simple stuff.

[rpcrowe]

Great job Willie!

I hope that I am not being simplistic when I say that, IMO, one of the many facets which separate really good photographers from average or below average picture snappers is the attention to backgrounds.

We have selective vision and will often see a subject to the exclusion of its environment. However the camera does not have the advantage of that selective vision and we often see shots with telephone poles growing out of people's heads and other cluttered and distracting backgrounds. When we look at an image through our camera viewfinders, using our selective vision, the background is often not noticed; unless we pay specific attention to avoiding distracting clutter.

I am not trying to say that it is always possible to photograph a subject without including a cluttered background. However often, by the photographer positioning himself or herself or through modifying the camera angle; a cluttered background. Of course, using selective focus will minimize clutter or distraction elements in the background and that is one reason that I enjoy shooting with long focal length lenses such as my 70-200mm f/4L IS.

The background doesn't have to be so out of focus that is unrecognizable, just enough to separate the main subjects.



The avoidance or clutter in the backgrounds is also a factor of the bokeh (not DOF but, the subjective look of the OOF areas of the image). Ragged bokeh or bokeh presented by lenses such as the donut shaped highlights of a mirror lens is almost as distracting as the clutter might be if it was in focus.