A great way to turn snapshots of a subject into more compelling images is to add foreground interest. Simply put, foreground interest is when there is something between you and what is in the background. To do this you need to pick a subject, like a building, and look around to see if there is something that you can put in between you and your subject. This is a great way to change a regular sunset image or beach image into something a bit more interesting. In a way, you have two subjects: a foreground subject and a background subject. One will be your primary subject and the other your secondary subject.
Including the boat in the foreground of the beautiful beach adds a focal point for the viewer.
The foreground subject that you choose can have a great affect on your image. Try to find something that compliments your background subject. Sometimes your foreground subject will become the main subject while the background subject will become your secondary subject and act as a compliment.
Lens choice
Wide angle or super wide angle lenses are great tools to allow you to put an object in the foreground and also still have the background in focus. Because of the properties of a wide angle lens, the viewer’s eye will be drawn to the larger foreground subject and separate it from the background. This will also help the viewer to explore the rest of the image.
Two of my favourite lenses to capture foreground interest are the Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 and the Nikon 17-35mm f2.8. They both have a close minimum focusing distance which allow you to emphasize your foreground but also show your background.
If you want to have both parts of the image – the foreground and the background – in focus, you may need to use a smaller aperture such as F16 or F22. But depending on how far away from the foreground object you are, you may not even have to use your smallest aperture.
If I am only choosing one part of the image to be in focus, I try to make sure that the foreground is in focus. The closer you get to and focus on the foreground object, the more out of focus your background will become.
Another factor to keep in mind when using a wide angle lens is that the background object will appear further away than it does to your eye. It may be so small that it hardly shows up in the final image. To remedy this, you will need to get much closer to the background object than you may originally think. This will help balance the prominence of the foreground and background.
Subjects for foreground interest
I will often use people as either the foreground or background subjects in an image. This can make your image more unique. As with other images with foreground interest, I often use a wide angle lens and get quite close to the person to make them prominent in the image. Be careful when using extreme wide angle lenses as these can sometimes distort the person if you are very close to them.
It never hurts to ask someone if they don’t mind being part of your image. However, if I am shooting from behind the person and their face will not be visible in the image, I won’t necessarily ask for permission. In fact, asking for permission might be a little counter productive as they may turn around and face the camera which may not be the image you had in mind.
When using an extremely wide angle lens, sometimes the person may not even know that they are a part of your image. Of course, the LCD on the back of your camera is a great tool for showing your finished image to your subject. But if they are not prominent in the image they may be a bit confused so I will sometimes shoot a more traditional portrait to show them.
