Background, Middle ground, Foreground

If you are thinking your photographs are looking ho-hum or are starting to appear the same, they may be lacking in depth. With the exception of headshots, I try to make sure every image we capture in my studio has these three parts: background, middle ground, and foreground.

Photographs with depth are much more pleasing to the eye. Depth adds dimension. Your eyes see in three dimensions, not two. Most photos have two dimensions, the foreground and background. The most common forgotten dimension in photography is middle ground. It is so easy to capture an image of a subject against a wall, sky, or a tree, but an entire dimension is lost. Adding foreground automatically adds a middle ground. Adding foreground can be done easily by:

• Moving a prop in front of the subject
• Including a portion of the existing scenery in front of the subject
• Wrapping scenery around the subject
• Changing your point of view

Moving a prop in front of the subject

In this photo originally Hank was sitting on the mushroom. While it was cute it was still a very flat two-dimensional image. Hank and the mushroom were both part of the foreground, while the rest became the background. Simply moving the mushroom in front of him not only kept him still for a few seconds longer, but added the foreground to the image.

Including a portion of the existing scenery in front of your subject

Common mistakes made while taking family pictures is to crop in at the bottom of their legs. This eliminates the foreground completely. Take a step back, include a portion of the ground (or leaves in this case) and the result is more pleasing to the eye.

Wrapping scenery around the subject

My original background for the angel special this year was an undecorated real tree and my white wall. My thought was that the child would be the foreground, my tree the middle ground, and the white wall the background. Sometimes when the foreground is the main subject of the image, the background and middle ground merge leaving the dreaded two-dimensional image. By wrapping a piece of garland from the tree to the front of the angel, the third dimension becomes visible.

Changing your point of view

The Easter egg nest was created with the three dimensions in mind. The eggs in front wrapped to the back. It should have been the setup. The problem was the height of the eggs. Being the same height in front and back, I lost the eggs in the back, thus losing my third dimension, which in this case was the background. I stood on a ladder and shot down into the nest. The tree on the right and the eggs became the foreground, Hank the middle ground, and what he is laying on the background.

Using these same ideas in your snapshots will change your whole view on your work and in your work.

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