Photographs of your loved ones or favorite locations can be a tasteful and lovely way to decorate your home. In order to obtain the best effect, many amateur photographers have begun studying artistic techniques, either in formal classes or by reading up on the subject. One basic tip that any photographer should learn is the importance of choosing a focal point for your picture.

Photographs that turn out particularly well deserve a special place on display. At YourCanvasPhotos, we offer a wide variety of techniques for enlarging pictures and transferring them to sturdy, handmade canvases. For more information, contact us today.

Guiding the Eye

A picture's focal point is its main subject, the object or person you especially want people to notice. It is an important component of any photograph due to the human eye's natural "laziness." Eyes need something to rest on when observing a picture, or else they are likely to quickly scan it without taking much in.

There are many different tricks photographers use to guide viewers' eyes to the focal point. Some easy methods you might want to experiment with are:

• Decrease clutter. The easiest way to draw attention to a picture's subject is to minimize other distractions in the picture. Try not to take your photographs in areas with a lot of brightly colored or otherwise eye-catching things in the background.
• Focus your camera. If some background clutter is unavoidable, your camera's lens can help. If you focus the lens on your subject, other objects in the background or foreground will blur. This will make your subject stand out as the one clear image in the shot.
• Make use of color. Surrounding your subject with contrasting colors will draw the eye right to it. For example, if the person in your picture is wearing warm colors (red, yellow, orange) you may want to use a background of cool colors (blue, green purple). There are many other ways to contrast images, such as black and white versus color, or solid colors versus stripes. Don't be afraid to experiment.

Contact Us

Have you taken a photograph you are especially proud of? YourCanvasPhotos can help you display it with our creative formatting techniques. Contact us to learn about our canvases, frames, and more.