“Cropping Out” Blue Blurs in the Park

It was a beautiful day in Leander, Texas. The park in my subdivision was sunny and bright–the perfect place for a photo session.

Seth had a colorful shirt on and had scheduled me into his day. I am an Enneagram 7, which means I can change my plans on a whim. Seth is an Enneagram 5, which means if you don’t schedule something with him two to three days in advance, he’s not budging. It was 11:30 and it was photo shoot time! I had been calendared.

My plan–not only to take pictures of Seth, but also to get some detail shots. Those included things around the park that day and some accessories that were unique to my subject–his glasses and his watch.  I learned  this technique from Katelyn James.

Before heading to the park, though, I wanted to test out taking shots by the window. It was a challenge to find just the right spot to put my subject, but in the end, success. I was able to light both sides of his face and expose for his skin tone.

At the park, I was sure to take both vertical and horizontal shots and to include full-body angles. I mentioned in a previous post–“The Bride Has Feet!” that when I photographed my first fake bride at a mock wedding shoot, I left out her feet! Essentially I cropped too close–every time. I wasn’t going to do that again.

One spot that had really nice back-lighting, a little bit of shade, and even something in the foreground to make the shot interesting, had the front of a white truck in the photo. At the time I couldn’t crop it out in camera. So, I cropped it out in Lightroom. Whew! Another photo saved!

For the most part, with the exception of the image of Seth sitting on the park bench, I was able to crop out anything distracting. If you look at the seated portrait, you can see a blue blur in the background. If I had just moved myself a little more to the right, I could have eliminated it. Note to self–eliminate all blue blurs.

When the session was over–an hour later, I was very happy with what I had in camera. And my subject, my client, my youngest son, was happy to help Mommy and happy with the photos I delivered to him. I don’t think he noticed the blue blur in the background of the park bench shot!