Over the course of a show I get into many conversations with customers and non-customers alike. Many of these conversations are with other photographers, usually amateurs. Sometimes the discussions goes toward what it would take for someone to get starting in the art show business. Many people have a lot of potentially very good images sitting in storage, and they think about what it would take to take advantage of them and begin selling them. I give what advice I can.
During one particular conversation one woman acknowledged what I think is one of the most important aspect of image-making that many beginners pay very little, if any, attention to. And that is: Reducing Clutter (RC). Simplifying an image almost always makes it more powerful. This not only refers to framing or cropping to eliminate unwanted objects on the edges of the image, but also to the background. A bland or out-of-focus background, when appropriate, immediately puts more focus on the main subject. It can be a real challenge to achieve this. Often it takes longer lenses, careful camera positioning, manual removal of unwanted objects, and so on. The extra effort is almost always worth it.
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