JUMPING OUT As photographers, we’re always trying to get our pictures to stand out from the crowd of other images. Traditionally, we rely on several techniques to make each shot better than the one before and better than those of other photographers. Captured action; dramatic lighting; special techniques, eye, and camera angles are a few popular ways to distinguish an image from other shots that have been taken of the same subject.
Another way to make one photo noticeably more interesting than another is to make it jump out. In this case, “jumping out” is done by making the subject jump out of the background. Several techniques bring this about. Three of these include having your subject in the light while the background is dark, using shallow depth of field to place the subject in focus while the background remains blurred, and silhouetting your point of interest with a light background. The main factors to keep in mind with all of these are that light and exposure are critical, and each technique carries its own set of circumstances. |
| A Lit Subject in Front of a Dark Background
An effective style I like to use is to have the subject in direct light while the background is dark. The main concerns with this style are timing and location. More often than not, a bit of luck comes into play before I’m in the right place at the right time for the parts to come together. The best time to create the effect occurs when the sun is on the horizon so that the angle of light is such that it cuts through some trees or around a bend, putting a spotlight on your subject alone.
Another way to accomplish this is with flash. If the subject is tucked into a dark area, such as a group of trees, you can use flash directed at the subject to highlight it while keeping the background dark. Exposure is critical. You should stick to using spot metering so you don’t include any of the background. If you get a reading off the background, it’ll try to add too much light to the scene, and your main subject will become washed out. (Many people don’t experiment with the different exposure modes on the camera. Instead, they become locked into one--usually matrix metering--and they don’t grow in their photography. Different conditions require different settings, and if you’re not familiar with each, you can lose out on some dramatic shots--such as extreme lighting conditions in which just a portion of the frame is receiving light.) |
A third route to achieve the light-on-dark effect is with clouds--particularly storm clouds. Very dark storm clouds can create dramatic images, especially if the sun sneaks through enough to light only your main subject. Again, you want to take your reading off the main subject as opposed to the dark background. By spot metering the subject, you’ll make the background seem even darker, allowing your foreground subject to appear more prominent. Again, a low light angle helps intensify the light that’s hitting your main point of interest.
Another way to bring out the main subject is with backlighting a translucent subject--such as a spider’s web covered with dew. Because the light is coming from behind the subject, it would hold true that the background would be dark as the light would not be in the correct position to illumine it. Exposure here is critical. Because you’re shooting through something that’s not solid and you don’t want to get a reading off the background, where you meter needs to be more precise. The middle of the web is where the most strands are clustered together, so this is where you need to take the reading. Because the web is covered with dew and is backlit, you need to add exposure compensation so the bright white subject doesn’t become washed out. Adding a +1/2 to a +1 usually works well, depending on how brightly the light is reflecting off the dewdrops. |  Early sunlight sneaking through the trees causes just a bit of light to hit just the flowers, leaving the background dark. |
Silhouetting
A second technique you can use to encourage your subject to jump out at you is silhouetting. Whatever your subject, it needs to be strong in order to draw the viewer’s eye to it, and the background needs to be very light. A background with strong color is helpful but not necessary.
When doing silhouettes you have three options: You can use a blank sky behind your subject, place the sun directly behind, or have the sun next to your subject. All three arrangements can create dramatic effects. While you think of the sun as the primary source of natural light in creating a silhouette, it doesn’t have to be. The moon--particularly when it’s full--can offer unique opportunities. For shots using the moon, you need the sun to be well below the horizon, so it’s totally dark. Having water in the background is another way to create a silhouette, either with the sun in the sky or just below the horizon line. This is when the colorful sky effect is best. Another way to work with silhouettes happens when the sun is higher in the sky. You pick a subject that’ also high in the sky—often, birds in flight. Gray, overcast days also work well when you’re trying to capture images like this.
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The
colorful sky just after sunset silhouettes these sandhill cranes.
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| When doing silhouette photography, take your exposure reading from the background, as you want that to be properly exposed. Matrix metering is the preferred choice--unlike the previous technique. There is an exception, though. If you include the sun in the image, you need to take your reading off to the side of the sun, so spotting that area is the better option in that situation.
As with the spider’s web, you can also use translucent subjects to create silhouettes. The best example is having the stamen of a flower silhouetted on a petal that’s between you and the stamen. The petal needs to be light and thin, so you might have to add exposure compensation, particularly if the petal is white. Again, a +1/2 to +1 works best. |
Blurred Background
The technique most people are familiar with is to blur the background. Having the aperture as wide open as possible given the lighting conditions provides a shallow depth of field that works best with wildlife that isn’t too active and flowers. For flowers, primarily close-ups, this is fairly easy to accomplish, as macro equipment doesn’t allow for much depth of field, anyway. Of the three techniques, this is also the easiest in terms of lighting and exposure. Whatever light or angle you have to work with will work as long as it conveys the feeling you want in the image. Exposure is also pretty straight forward, as long as the amount of light on the subject and background is fairly even. Your exposure mode of choice—whether spot, center-weighted or matrix--will work here.
The main advice to keep in mind is to make sure the eyes of the animal have as sharp a focus as possible. Depending on how close you are to the subject, you’ll also want to have enough depth of field to carry through its face and head, if possible. For example, if you’re shooting a bull elk, it will be nice if the antlers are in focus as well as the eye. Based on the direction the animal is facing, it doesn’t matter if the back end is out of focus. Your main goal is to draw attention to the face and eyes.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. Just because what you’re doing isn’t a “typical” shot doesn’t mean it won’t be an interesting one. That’s the only way to get better at photography: trying new techniques in order to get the subject to jump out. |
Shallow
depth of field softens the background to make this red fox stand out.
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