This is the first of a four part series discussing and showing examples of different techniques and methods a photographer can use to “Single Out” a subject in a nature photograph. There are of course more methods than I’ll be discussing over the next month but I chose what I believe are the four main tools, depth of field (DOF), color, silhouette, and space. Some of the photos I show as an example of one technique also employ some of the other various methods for making your subject stand out and I’ll also try to point out photos that use multiple methods. As with everything photography related many things are just my opinion and you may agree or disagree but in the end I hope you enjoy the photographs and maybe pick up a small tip or trick that may help you grow with your photography. Also please feel free to leave comments so that I may learn something new. That’s one of the many great parts of photography, there is always something new to learn and nobody is ever wrong.

Let’s start talking about depth of field, which I’ll refer to as DOF from now on. I won’t bore you the definition but try to explain how I use it in nature photography to help single out my subject. As a general rule the wider aperture (lower f number) used will create less depth of field. This can be used as an advantage to a nature photographer to make a certain part or subject matter in a photo stand out as in the example at the top of this post. I photographed that purple flower with the lens set to f:2.8 which created a very shallow depth of field. This translates into only the flower being sharp and the background becomes blurred thus helping the flower become singled out. For bird and flower photography shallow DOF is one of the most common and easily used techniques to allow your subject to become the main focus of the photo.

Using DOF is not only limited to birds and flowers, it can be a benefit in landscape photography and can also be used just for effect. My only suggestion is to be careful with extremely shallow depth of field. It can certainly make it more difficult to properly focus on your subject, especially if it is moving. There are also some lenses that create such a shallow DOF that almost nothing is in focus. DOF is one of the most important techniques I use in my nature photography to help me “single out” my subject and I’m sure most of you already use it yourself, whether you know it or not.

I hope you enjoyed this article and please stop back next week to see the next in the series: color.

View the entire series

Here is an example of one of the most common tools to make your subject stand out, especially with birds and other wildlife. Depth of Field in this photo was achieved by taking the photo from an extremely low angle and it helps the bird become the main focus of the picture.

Here, getting up close and using shallow depth of field helps to blur out the distracting background and keeping the viewers eye focused on the branch and pine needle detail.

I chose to use just the right amount of depth of field on this tree to allow the viewer to be able to distinguish what the background was, yet allow the dead tree to stand out.

This photo is a use of 2 methods for making the subject stand out. It has shallow depth of field to focus on just the opened shell and color plays a large part in helping the subject pop. The bright white of the shell really stands out against the burned marsh grass.

Using a really shallow depth of field here even blurs the other flowers that are nearby creating an almost dreamy, painted background.

This photo could have been taken with either the bird or the tall marsh grass in focus. I chose that later to make it a bit more mysterious. You can obviously see the bird in the background but it may take a few moments to realize it's a Great Blue Heron. If I had photographed the heron in focus, the tall grass would have simply been in the way.

Depth of field is the main tool used in this photo to make the little Canada Goose the main subject but lighting also plays a part here. I specifically waited for the little guy to walk into the spot of sunlight thus making him the brightest part of the photo and further drawing the viewers eye directly to him.

There are two trees in this photo and thanks to depth of field, only one is the focus of the photograph. I chose to include the foreground tree to help create some depth to the photograph and also add more color. This is another example of lighting helping the tree stand out. The early morning sun was behind the tree which caused the background to go almost black and really made the main tree almost glow.

Depth of field is the only thing that would help this Brown Anole stand out. Everything in the scene is the same color and full sunlight just lights up everything.

View the entire series