Eliminating Cluttered Backgrounds In Your Wildlife Photos

Where I live, the spring migration of songbirds is in full swing. If you are a photographer like me who likes to get out into nature and photograph this annual event, you may be frustrated by cluttered backgrounds that distract from the colorful birds.

Here are three methods I use to create images that focus on the bird and not the distracting and cluttered backgrounds commonly associated with photographing in marshes and forested areas.

I knew I had to wait until the Yellow Warbler was better positioned. The distracting foreground and background were bothering me.

I waited until the Yellow Warbler moved out onto the end of the limb to start to call. I positioned myself to get the best light on the bird if it appeared in my composition.

Method #1 – Wait for the bird to be in the composition that you want

This method involves a lot of frustration and patience. When you locate a bird like this Yellow Warbler flying back and forth between a couple of trees, watch and study its behaviour. Where does it fly, what is it doing, and where does it perch?

This Yellow Warbler was calling, probably for a mate. It would fly from tree to tree and dispute with other male Yellow Warblers. After the dispute, it would fly to a tree alone and call.

Sometimes, it landed deep in the tree, and other times, it landed near the end of a branch. I picked a branch with the sky as the background near where it would land. It took 15 minutes, but the reward was a Yellow Warbler calling from a branch with no background elements to distract the viewer in the photo.

These branches were just too distracting. So, I picked a thicker branch just to the right of its current position. It had heavy leaf growth between me and the Prothonotary warbler.

As soon as the Prothonotary Warbler landed on this thick branch, I placed the end of my lens against the leaves. The leaves were only encroaching on my field of view by inches. That was enough to produce this look.

Method #2 – Use the foreground elements to diffuse the clutter 

The Prothonotary Warbler nests in small, shallow holes found low in the trunks of dead or dying trees standing in or near flooded woodlands or swamps. It also feeds off the bugs flying near the water's surface. 

This environment has a lot of clutter: weeds, twigs, tall grass, spider webs, and floating peat moss. Finding an area with a clear background in these conditions is highly challenging. 

The method I commonly use in these conditions is where I use the clutter to my advantage. In this environment, there are always fallen trees with leaves on branches, green broad-leaf weeds, or grass growing out of the water. 

I use these things to cover the clutter in the foreground. The lens I use for my bird photography is usually a prime with a fixed aperture of f/4 or f/5.6. By getting low to the ground and placing my lens hood against these green elements, they will be entirely out of focus, creating a soft green look as in the photo above. 

It takes some practice and moving around—left to right, up and down—to create the desired effect. But you will find the sweet spot of your lens where these foreground elements will create the desired effect.

The out-of-focus branch was a distraction. There was also a speck of dirt on the Prothonotary warbler's chest that I wanted to remove.

I used the Photoshop AI tool to eliminate the branch. Then, I used the clone stamp to eliminate the dirt on the Prothonotary warbler's chest and remove the bokeh on the bottom right of the image.

Method #3 – Post-processing elimination of the clutter

It's probably the least fun and most time-consuming, but sometimes, you have to do what you must to clean up these unwanted elements that will make your good photo great. 

This method requires knowledge of your post-processing software. I use Photoshop and Lightroom. Photoshop offers three effective ways to eliminate unwanted elements. 

The first is the clone stamp, where you clone a clear section of the image and place it over the unwanted element. It does what it says: It clones the clear background and eliminates the unwanted section. 

The second way to do this in Photoshop is to use "Content-Aware Fill."  You select the unwanted item in your photo with the Lasso Tool. Then, you go up to the menu and select "Edit." In the drop-down menu, you will see "Content-Aware Fill." Select that option. Then select "OK." Photoshop will eliminate the unwanted item you selected. 

The third and most effective method is the new Photoshop AI Next-level Generative Fill. It requires an update to Photoshop, but it is the most effective method for eliminating unwanted items in Photoshop. 

Regardless of the software you use, each has a method to eliminate unwanted elements in your photos. 

I hope these tips help you create better images of small songbirds.  

We teach these methods in all our wildlife workshops, and would love for you to join us on one of our trips.