How background makes such a difference

Alisdair recently hosted a couple of excellent Zoom discussions on photography skills and one of the topics was the importance of the background in making shots look so much more interesting. That prompted me to dig out a few photos which might help to illustrate the point and I hope a few more of you might follow suit? Obviously some locations just have better backgrounds than others but just choosing the right moment to take the shot can make a huge difference to the end result, whether it be by catching clouds in the background or avoiding background clutter, buildings, etc. Here are a few which may demonstrate this:

Firstly two shots from the same pass with the second one appealing much more to my eye just because of the clouds rather than the clear blue sky

fsOV7B4266 by CJBospix, on Flickr


fsOV7B4258 by CJBospix, on Flickr

In this one, the grass being blown around is picked out nicely against the dark trees in the background

fsOV7B6679 by CJBospix, on Flickr

Not many airports have a decent backdrop so when one does, even rather boring FedEx airliners can look quite appealing


IMG_4084 by CJBospix, on Flickr

Smoke can sometimes be a real pain at airshows but occasionally it can enhance a picture

OV7B2076 by CJBospix, on Flickr

And sometimes the background really is the picture with an aircraft just happening to be in there as well

fsOV7B4753 by CJBospix, on Flickr

fsOV7B4680 by CJBospix, on Flickr