What’s wrong with this picture?
E
ven though this image of a namaqua chameleon I photographed in Namibia shows a natural background indicative of this reptile’s environment, there are three things about this image I don’t like. First, the background is, indeed, very busy. It competes for attention with the subject, and that’s not how a successful image is supposed to work. Second, the downward angle of the camera isn’t ideal, especially for small animals. Sometimes there’s no choice, but I still don’t like it. Much better in my opinion, would have been an eye-level perspetive. And third, the vegetation in the lower right corner is out of focus, and I find that to be visually annoying. Blurred foregrounds are usually distracting. At times there is simply no way of avoiding them, but being aware of this issue is the first step in avoiding them by changing the shooting position, using a smaller lens aperture, moving back from the subject, or using a wider angle lens.
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