“A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.”

Joel 2:3

When I started this series a while back, I prefaced it by saying that many of these points were items that I had learned from making mistakes in my photographic journey, learning the hard way, and wanting to share these experiences so that they could provide helpful advice for those of you either getting started in photography or maybe even those who have been doing it for a while, and might not be aware of these things. Either way, I wanted to briefly touch on another point that I feel would be very helpful.

If you read my earlier post a ways back, Simple Tips for Better Pics 3: Don't Get Distracted! I again build off this topic by emphasizing the importance of being aware of distractions in your image; this time however it is important to focus on one thing in particular that can be just as detracting as objects that distract from your subject... And that would be - what are you composing not for your subject, but rather for your background behind it?

You see, it is a common mistake - especially in nature photography, that we are so occupied by what we are focusing on we forget what's going to end up behind it. It can sometimes come down to just moving a foot or two, or even a few inches, to get the backdrop we desire that compliments our image and avoids any unnecessary and unappealing backgrounds.

Below are two examples of a sunflower we have growing in our backyard. I took these of the same flower, minutes apart, from slightly different angles. Take a look and see which one just looks more easy on the eyes: