My #1 Tip for Getting the BEST Background

Well this tip I didn’t learn 100% on my own, I had a little help from the great Manny Ortiz— If you do not know him, I would highly recommend to check him out on Youtbue. Although I have a natural ability to find a good background and place my subject in it, all photographers can hit lulls in creativity. This tip can spark the creativity and save time on shoot day.

Pro advice: This tip works best when shooting with a low aperture where the background in your image is blurred out.

So, lets get into it!

The trick is to use your cameras ability to create a locked focus. While I am in an area that is feeling a bit blah and my own eye can’t imagine if a certain background is good or not, this is what I will do. I will aim the camera lens at the ground, and ‘half push’ the shutter button (this is how focus is obtained), and keep it pushed halfway down. While holding the shutter like so and the focus locked, I will lift the camera up and scan the area around me while looking at the screen on the camera. This will show the image in your camera as blurry, since your camera is still holding the focus it had on the ground initially. With this technique in place, you can move the camera around the area to see which area looks the best blurred. When I see a blurred image on the camera screen that I like, I just imagine inserting my subject into that camera frame with the beautiful background I have found.

This can take your background from drab to fab in one small easy step 🙂

If you are ever in a shoot with me and see me aiming my camera towards the ground and scanning the area, you will know what I am up to 🤪