There’s a lot of talk about isolation in photography, and for a very good reason. Isolation as a composition technique is perfect for drawing your viewers’ eyes to where you want them to look. But do you know what’s involved with isolating your subject?
It sounds all very serious and unfriendly, but trust me, it’ll make a huge difference to your photography.
What is isolation in photography?
Put simply, if you want to make your subject stand out in a portrait, you need to isolate them.
To understand why subject isolation is so effective in photography composition, read about the Gestalt principles of segregation and figure to ground in my tutorial on Gestalt theory.
Isolation can be used with all types of subjects in photography composition. It’s not just for portraiture, even though that’s where you hear about it most.
How to isolate your subject in photos
What I love so much about isolation in photography is that it combines so many different techniques. There are umpteen different ways to isolate a subject in a photo and it all depends on the:
- Subject
- Atmosphere you want to create
- Tools you have at your disposal
Here are my favorite photography isolation techniques for great composition, which I’ve split into four categories:
- Background blur
- Contrast
- Physical isolation
- Post processing
As I said, each method of isolation has a number of different photography techniques you can use, so you’re bound to know at least 1 of them already. Now let’s take a closer look.
First, you’re going to need this free cheat sheet…
Background blur
When we think of isolating a subject in a photo, we very often mean separating the subject from the background. Not always, because we’re not always separating the subject from the background, but we’ll get into that further down.
The first technique that springs to mind for isolation in photography is blurring the background using a shallow depth of field. This is especially popular with the current trend of using very wide apertures that completely blur out the background.
6 ways to isolate a subject using a blurry background
1. Aperture settings for depth of field
Let’s start with aperture settings for blurring the background as it’s the most well known method to make the subject stand out. When you widen your aperture for a blurry background, you create a shallow depth of field.
If you don’t shoot in manual mode, don’t worry, you can still isolate a subject with a shadow depth of field. Shooting modes you can use include:
- Aperture priority mode
- Portrait mode
Aperture priority mode
In aperture priority, simply set your aperture to anything from f5.6 and wider, all the way to f1.4 if your lens goes that far.
The smaller the number, the wider your aperture will be and the blurrier your background will be. Your camera will set the appropriate shutter speed for the scene.
Portrait mode
You have less control if you use the portrait scene mode, but the main point of this mode is to use a wide aperture to blur the background. So, if you’re not comfortable with changing settings yet, portrait mode is a good way to start playing with depth of field to isolate your subject.
Not all cameras have portrait mode, but if you have an entry level camera it definitely will.
2. Lens focal length
The longer your lens focal length the easier it is to blur the background. So a focal length of 105mm will give you a blurrier background than if you photographed your subject at 50mm.
Plus, a short focal length used too close to the subject can distort your subject’s features.
Further reading: What is focal length in photography and how to use it (5 facts)
3. Distance between subject and background
If you can’t open your aperture wide and you don’t have a long focal length, don’t give up. You can use distance to blur your background.
Specifically, you need to create distance between your subject and the background. The closer you are to your subject and the further away the background is, the more blurred out the background will be. Your subject will then be isolated.
Further reading: Capture a blurry background the easy way – no Photoshop
4. Focusing to blur the background
A great composition technique for blurring the background is selective focus. It’s also called differential focus and it works hand in hand with the previous points on distance and aperture.
If you selectively focus on a particular subject, which results in other subjects in the image becoming out of focus, that subject is isolated in the photo by being in focus.
The next two points both achieve isolation in photography, by blurring the background with movement, but in two different ways.
Further reading: How to use differential focus to make your composition pop
5. Panning to blur the background
The panning technique is great for capturing moving subjects and isolating them from the background.
When panning, the photographer moves at the same speed as the subject, which causes the background to blur. So the sharp subject stands out in the image against the blurred background.
Further reading: Panning photography – capturing action with motion blur
6. Blurred motion
This is for a moving background.
To create a blurred background through motion, the background needs to be moving while the subject remains still.
Creative use of shutter speed is important with both of these camera techniques as it needs to be slow enough for the movement to blur, but fast enough for the subject to be sharp.
Create contrast for subject isolation in photos
Contrast can be created in an image in many ways. The most obvious of these is through color and the play of light.
5 ways to isolate a subject with contrast
1. Color contrast
Color is a fantastic tool in photography composition. For isolation in composition color works really well when you use dominant colors (red, orange, yellow) against a background of recessive colors (blue, green).
Further reading: Using complementary colors in photography for vibrant composition
2. Dark vs Light contrast
A light subject stands out against a dark background and a dark subject stands out against a light background.
Bear in mind that our eyes are drawn to the lightest part of the image. So, when isolating your subject, make sure that there are no distracting light areas away from the subject jostling for attention.
3. Splashes of light
When photographing indoors in particular, you can make use of the splashes of natural light caused by direct sunlight entering via a door or window.
Position your subject in the pool of light and meter for this area. The rest of the scene will be significantly darker, thereby isolating the subject.
It actually doesn’t have to just be direct sunlight, but of course the harder the light, the greater the contrast will be between light and dark.
You’ll also see this method of separating the subject from the background used a lot in street photography, particularly black and white street photography.
4. Backlight separation
Using backlight in photos is one of my absolute favorite ways to light a subject. Backlight can also be rim light, because when you light a subject from behind and photograph from the shadow side of the subject a rim of light appears around the subject.
This rim of light is perfect for separating the subject from the background, isolating them in the photo.
Further reading: Rim light photography – stunning lighting technique for dramatic photos
5. Silhouettes
A silhouette, by its very nature, is going to stand out from the background.
It’s taking the concept of dark versus light to the extreme. Because in silhouette photos the subject’s a dark shape against a light background, they’re instantly isolated in the photo and our eyes are immediately drawn to them.
Further reading: How to photograph silhouettes with ease in any shooting mode
Physical isolation of subject in frame
You know how when you’re on a crowded beach looking out to sea and somebody stands up and moves to the water and you automatically look at them? You didn’t notice them before, but the moment they’re separated from the crowd you see them.
It’s the same with isolation in photography.
Physical isolation of a subject in photography is literally making them “stick out like a sore thumb”, but it’s a good thing.
As with all things in photography, to physically isolate your subject, you have options.
3 ways to physically isolate a subject in a photo
Remember I mentioned that we’re not always separating a subject from the background? Sometimes we’re simply making the subject matter stand out from the other elements in the scene with an isolation technique.
That’s what we’re about to look at.
1. Interrupted pattern
If you want the green apple to be noticed, put it with a bunch of red apples. The break in the pattern composition of round red shapes will draw the viewer’s eyes straight to the green round shape.
Speaking of shape, an irregular shaped object in the middle of regular rectangular shapes, for example, will also stand out.
Humans like to make sense of the world around us, so we very quickly spot a pattern. And just as quickly we’re drawn to the difference, the break in the pattern.
2. Viewpoint
We’re used to seeing the world from our usual standing eye height. So when we photograph a subject from a different viewpoint, they immediately stands out. In the case of children and animals it’s particularly effective to photograph them from their viewpoint. In other words, at their eye level.
This is because it makes the subject of the image obvious. Otherwise, why would the photographer have chosen that point of view?
3. Space
The most obvious method of physical isolation in photos is photographing a subject with a lot of space around them, they really do stand out. This is the basis of negative space composition in photography.
Two other photography composition tricks to help you make the most of space for isolating your subject are:
- The rule of thirds to position your subject within the scene at a point that draws the viewer’s attention
- Leading lines to lead the viewer through the space in the scene to the subject
Editing for isolation in photos
I’m a fan of subtle processing, because I feel post production should be about finessing an image, as opposed to completely changing it. That’s just my style and, if I’m honest, it’s probably influenced by the fact that I don’t like to spend a lot of time at the computer.
A combination of processing techniques applied subtly goes a long way to separating your subject.
A useful tip is to keep checking back on the original so that you can see when you’re going too far with the processing. The longer you work an image the easier it becomes to overstep the mark, because you get used to seeing it in its transformed state.
3 ways to isolate a subject in post production
1. Desaturate background colors
I’m definitely not advising doing “spot color” in post production as that’s dated and can so easily look tacky.
However, used with subtlety and restraint, partially desaturating some of the colors within a scene, while maintaining the color saturation of your subject, is a great way to draw attention to your subject matter.
2. Add a vignette
Adding a vignette in post production helps to frame your subject and draw the eye in. Again, I advise subtlety.
3. Radial masks for isolation
One of the best additions to Lightroom in recent years is radial masks in the masking tool. IMHO.
They’re great for isolating your subject with subtle exposure changes to make your subject stand out in the image.
Leave a comment
If you have any questions about isolation in photography, let us know in the comments.
Also, I love good news, so if my subject matter isolation tips have helped you to understand how to separate a subject from the background and make it stand out in a photo, share that too.
Great Tute . I like it very Much. Thankyou Very Much.