Looking Through the Eyes of a Painter

     If I had to name one thing that can make the difference between a mediocre photograph and a great one, it would be the background. A subject awkwardly placed in front of the background, clutter, and too much going on can all make the photograph confusing, which makes people not want to look at the image. 

     This can be avoided by learning to see what Bryan Peterson calls the empty canvas. In the same way a painter starts with a blank slate, photographers should look for the blank canvas before taking a picture (Peterson 82). This means that paying attention to the background and placing the subject with consideration of the background should be a priority.

     For my first attempt at photographing a blank canvas, I used a strand of Christmas lights against the sky, because "on sunny days you can always turn your attention to the empty canvas of the... blue sky above, and shoot any number of subjects against it" (Peterson 83). The sky on the right creates a clean background for the lights.

The diagonal line the lights create between the sky 
and the roof adds to the strength of the composition.

     But blank canvases don't have to be so generic. Anything can be an empty canvas if the photo is composed correctly. In this image I used a person's hand as the empty background and a small teacup as the subject. This created a simple yet compelling photograph.

A hand worked as the blank canvas because it didn't
cause any distractions from the subject.

What else can be used as a blank canvas? Do you agree that the background is just as important as the subject? Let me know in the comments!

Bonus picture of using the ground as a blank canvas :)

Peterson, Bryan. Bryan Peterson's Understanding Composition Field Guide. New York: Amphoto, 2012. Print.