Hey, how’s it going? I’m Andy Jones and this is episode 113 of the Photography Side Hustle podcast.
Ok, this week’s episode is about something I have noticed with a couple of people I’m working with. One shoots portraits and the other wants to get into weddings.
I’ve also been seeing the same problem with lots of photos that are posted on social media.
The problem is; no subject separation
Meaning the subject blends in with the background. If you look at any of your photos with a subject and ask yourself, does the subject stand out and pop or do they blend in with the background?
So let’s look at how you can separate your subjects and make the image pop.
First, we can look at …
SportsIf you have ever watched a major sports event you have probably seen photographers shooting with huge lenses. Those lenses are in the 400mm plus range.
They need long focal lengths to fill the frame with the subject they are shooting. But, the thing that they also need is a wide aperture of f/2.8 or f/4. This is because they need the shallowest depth of field possible.
Why do they need a shallow depth of field? Because it will cause the background to be out of focus and blurry.
An image with the subject in focus and the background blurry gives you that separation.
If you were shooting a subject from 100 feet away using a 400mm 2.8 lens on a full-frame body at f/2.8, the depth of field behind the focus point of 1 foot 7 inches.
If you used a 100-400 4.5-5.6 zoom lens the widest aperture you could use would be f/5.6. The depth of field behind the focus point would be 3 feet 4 inches, double that of the 400 2.8 lens.
That difference is why pro sports photographers splash out $12,000 for the 400 2.8, compared to $2,400 for the 100-400 4.5-5.6.
The shallow depth of field allows them to capture the subject in action with a creamy out-of-focus background. The image separates the subject and background and the photo pops.
Now I’m not saying you have to spend $12,000 on a lens, I’m just trying to stress the importance of minimizing the depth of field for sports photos. If f/5.6 is your widest aperture that’s fine, just make sure you use f/5.6 and not f/11 or anything higher than f/5.6 if you want to separate your subject.
Next, we have …
If you can take a portrait and produce an image that has separation between the subject and background, you will sell way more prints. The whole idea of a portrait is to emphasize the subject, not blend them into the surroundings.
A wedding is a mixture of documentation and portraits. Your go-to technique for separating your subjects again is a shallow depth of field.
This is the reason 85mm 1.4 lenses and 24-70 2.8 zoom lenses are favorites for wedding and portrait photographers.
Being able to capture photos where the subject is prominent is so important. Without the separation, you are just taking snapshots.
Now you might be shooting a portrait with an aperture of 2.8 and the bushes and trees in the background still have some detail. That is because the subject is too close to the bushes.
The further the subject is from the background the more it will be out of focus. So think about this when you are setting the photo up. Bring your subject away from whatever is in the background to add to the separation effect.
If you don’t have a lens that can go wider than f/5.6 you can use that technique to make the distant background out of focus.
In fact, even if you used an 18-55 kit lens at 55mm and used an aperture of f/5.6 from 10 feet in front of your subject, the depth of field behind the focus point would be 24 inches. If you step forward to 7 feet from the subject the depth of field behind the focus point would be 12 inches.
The problem with using a kit lens is you can’t take all your photos from 7 feet away. So not all your images will have separation.
Now I’ve used the word pop to describe a good portrait, and the best way to add pop to your portraits is in the editing process.
EditingA few years ago it was a long and tedious process to edit a portrait. But, Photoshop and Lightroom can make editing so easy now.
Being able to edit just the subject or the background has made separating your subject so simple.
In most portraits, if you change the exposure of the background to make it slightly darker the separation will be greater.
Now you can edit people's lips, eyes, hair, eyebrows, facial skin, body skin, clothes, and even the whites of their eyes.
It’s the contrast between the subject and the background that makes a great portrait. So spend a little time editing the subject and then do the opposite to the background. If you generally brightened the subject, darken the background a little. It doesn’t take much to add contrast to an image and make the subject stand out.
This is a really in-depth way of editing and I can’t take you through it in a podcast episode. If I tried I might explode.
But, I think I’m going to be adding a new video or two to the Photoshop for Photographers course in the not-so-distant future.
Being able to separate your subject is crucial to your success in photography. It will turn your photos into portraits and separate you from your competition. That will get you more bookings, lots of positive testimonials, and a healthy business.
Without professional-looking photos, you’re going to be facing an uphill battle to make money with your camera. If you produce professional images it’s easy to make money.
So take a look at some of your photos and be honest with yourself. Do they need improving? If they do, start using the techniques I’ve mentioned.
Ok, I think I’m all done for this episode. I’ll be back next week, talk to you then, bye.