Pay Attention to Foregrounds
Here’s a little ‘question’ for you to ask next time you’re out and about with our digital cameras.
Next time you’re taking a landscape or urban landscape shot pause before you hit the shutter and ask yourself:
“What’s in the Foreground of this shot?”
I find that many photographers give backgrounds of shots real attention – but few take the time to consider foregrounds.
If they do consider them it’s usually more about making sure the foreground is empty and that there is nothing obstructing the main focal point.
While empty foregrounds can mean your main subject is unobstructed – it can also leave your image looking quite boring.
Alternatively – a foreground with some sort of secondary interest point can really lead viewers into a shot and help create a more dynamic scene.
The foreground point of interest need not be anything too amazing – it could simply be a rock, tree, pathway or fence post. Alternatively you might want to get down really low and shoot from that position to make the ground itself the interest point.
More tips on using the foreground of your shots to add impact here.
I’d love to see the results of your experiments with foregrounds in comments below.
18 Responses to “Pay Attention to Foregrounds” - Add Yours
November 27th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Here’s a specific example which always bothers me:
Star trail photos need a foreground too! Star trails are awesome, but just a photo of the sky with stars moving is kind of boring (unless you’re into astrophotography and have a specific kind of object that you’re looking for). Having something in the foreground really adds interest, and you can use the stars in clever ways.
One way I did this was to place our favorite local mine shaft in the foreground, with the north star behind the shaft — so that stars appeared to move around it: Quincy Stars isn’t a great photo technically (look at the cloud smears), but it does have a good foreground.
November 27th, 2009 at 11:44 am
When u put some foreground on your composition, it will “eat” more space of middle-ground and background. That’s a dillematic problem for me…
November 27th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
While photographing Thanksgiving’s sunset on a wetland shore I was wheeling around looking for a suitable foreground as the sunset had the background covered.
I really like portrait orientation landscape shots that include a cool subject in the foreground too.
November 27th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Not only scenery shots can make a use of foreground.
Paying attention to such detail is important and ‘handy’ in every kind of photo
For example – http://www.ilanbresler.com/2008/07/spring.html – in this portrait the blossom of the tree in the foreground adds that “fairy” tale notion I needed to make the photo into something more than just a portrait
November 28th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Quite right, too. The only piece of advice from a pro. photographer I remember is, “Check the foreground.” It has saved many a shot being ruined by things like bits of paper etc. that I didn’t see because I was concentrating on the scene I wanted.
November 29th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I used the iron fence as a device to frame the window in this picture of a window in a church in Paris. The shallow depth of field doesn’t allow it to pull your interest from the subject, but the color of the fence adds to what is a pretty colorless picture otherwise.
December 1st, 2009 at 9:54 am
The footprints in the foreground here are absolutely necessary to draw the viewer further into the picture and to my subjects, the three people in the snow and the dog.
Used well, a good foreground can give your photo a depth that photos with just midground and background lack.
http://quotidian-photography.blogspot.com/2009/11/snow.html
December 1st, 2009 at 9:53 pm
@harry.
you’ve got the right idea here, however that fence is straying into the object of our focus here (the window).
A simple re composition to ensure that the fence FRAMED, the window, rather than strayed into it, would have made the image much much stronger.
The colours work well together though..
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:53 am
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S1000fd
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/680)
Aperture: f/6.4
Focal Length: 17.1 mm
ISO Speed: 64
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paws4dcaws/4154321768/meta/
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 am
Pike’s Peak – Colorado Springs, Co
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2570/4154321768_86d5c217f5.jpg
December 4th, 2009 at 4:54 am
My brother in the background. Our Canadian vacation in 2008.
http://images2b.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp53456%3Evq%3D3278%3E73%3B%3E654%
December 4th, 2009 at 6:08 am
And even using a blurred foreground can add to the story as well, such as in the photo below. It’s not until you realize that the object in the foreground is a male backside that the female model’s sly look into the camera makes the image “involve” the viewer:
December 4th, 2009 at 6:09 am
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2511/3729762509_2e8a4b9785.jpg
December 6th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
a very good reminder for almost 80% of us photographers who normally give much attention to backgrounds and forgetting about the equally important foregrounds.
December 8th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I totally agree with this post. I myself always forget about the foreground because I give too much attention to the background.
This post in my photo-blog is a good example.
See the 2nd shot. I was too focus in getting the sunset, adding something to the foreground never crossed my mind. A friend suggested me to capture the sunset between the branches, thus the 3rd shot and IMO is far better.
http://tingkap-vistaku.blogspot.com/2009/08/sunsets-fever.html
December 14th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
@ Alex
Couldn’t agree more, it was a spur of the moment shot. If I get back to Paris I’ll try it again :)
December 14th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
@ Alex
Couldn’t agree more, it was a spur of the moment shot. If I get back to Paris I’ll try it again :) Thanks for your critique.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:44 am
Nice site thanks
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