Choosing the right background for your portraits

These are from a session I did a few years ago in the Fall at a park here in Hampton; I started out by the lake because sometimes the water reflects the colors from the trees but on this particular day it was a bit windy and as you can see more than half of the background is just the whitish water. This lovely family looks great and they did like the portrait! But I knew I could do better with the background so we moved around and ended up in another location where the background is pretty but not distracting, allowing the family to shine. This is my tip for you today! When taking pictures of people, whether you are an amateur or professional, look for backgrounds that don't pull focus from your subjects. Of course there are always exceptions! Sometimes the background IS the point, but that's a tip for another day.

#hamptonva #portraitphotography #outdoorportraits #familyportraits