Two methods to declutter a photo

Not too long ago I did a fitness shoot at a local gym. Going into the shoot I knew that although the gym offered a lot of space, it was not the most picturesque location. There are a lot of leader boards and signs on the walls and the big garage door at the back, has a large decal of a soccer ball and writing underneath. 

While I could have used a fast lens like my Sigma 85mm f/1.4 to to soften the background and lessen the distractions, however because the subject would be moving while doing the exercises the images would be at risk of not being sharp due to the shallow dept of field.  

I brought my strobes to use instead of the ambient light in the space which was very flat and non-directional. In order to highlight the subject’s physique the lighting needed to be directional to create shadows and sculpt her body. 

Method #1

Image straight out of camera.

In the background I set up a strobe with a blue gel on an optical trigger. It flooded the background with a blue light. The first thing this method achieves is neutralizes all the competing colours. 

Now that all the background elements have a similar hue you can make work of your colour sliders in post-production. For this image I selected the blue hue and as a result desaturated the background in Capture One Pro. Now that the background has the same tone it makes for a somewhat less distracting photo.

Background desaturated.

Method #2

If the first step is not enough, you can also considering doing a background replacement in photoshop. The first thing you’ll need to do is open the image in photoshop, make a duplicate layer and go to edit > select subject. You’ll want to spend some time refining the selection, however when that is complete make a mask from the current selection. Now go back to the original layer and swap the cluttered background with one of your liking. I chose to go with a bare concrete wall as it pair nicely with the fitness theme. The last step is to do some masking and blending to make your new background lineup perfectly with the foreground.

Final edit.

As a sports photographer I often have to play the hand I’ve been dealt. Locations are not always perfect, so are the athletes schedules and availability. I rely heavily on post-production to achieve the desired result. Therefore when walking into a photo session I have the confidence in knowing that can get the shot no matter what the location throws at me!

Which of these methods would be your go to? Let me know!