What is Clutter ?

[Vikram Nanjappa]

Do you call this clutter ? Or habitat ?

[Siddhartha Gogoi]

Hi Sir,

Amazing topic, and an amazing shot! This is a perfect habitat shot and I'm alsways confused why a lot of people term it as clutter, the meaning of the word "clutter" is closely related to confusion and disorder. It's a different thing altogether that photographing an animal without any obstruction would turn out to be a classy image however a photo of an animal with natural obstructions will also make up as a perfect habitat shot, an usual case in the wild. I also have a photograph of a Leopard taken on the Masinagudi and Thepakaddu stretch of road behind the bushes, though I would've loved to have a photo of the leopard without any obstructions however to me it gives me great satisfaction of capturing an animal in it's natural habitat. Composition does not really work out all the time though with a little bit of smart thinking it makes a lot of difference in getting a good photo. For me both the photographs of an animal shot with natural obstructions and with no obstructions at all are priceless. My Thoughts.

Regards,
Siddhartha

[Sabyasachi Patra]

A good wildlife image is one where the elements tell us about the interrelationship between the bird/animal with its surroundings. An animal or bird can't live without its habitat. However, most often our photographs don't portray this relationship.

It is important that a person thinks before clicking, so that this relationship can be portrayed. However, that needs the use of depth of field to sufficiently bring the important elements into focus. Else, those elements become a distraction and people call it clutter.

However, it is not a simple task. Else, people would use a narrow aperture like f8 and click and expect their image to be a environmental portrait.

As photographers we can't move elements to suit our composition like painters do. So we need to be careful to avoid distracting elements from the composition. One approach is to use a shallow depth of field (that is clicking at your widest lens opening) and try to throw the background out of focus. It often results in pleasing images. However, that doesn't show the habitat or the complex ecological relationships.

In this image, the elephant seems to be in dense vegetation. The tall vegetation gives the sense of scale. Since it is a tusker, all of us know the approximate height. So we get an idea about the height of the dense undergrowth. There is a hint of a tree or two in the background. A tight closeup doesn't reveal much about it. It is good that both the eyes are clear. However, there is a big leaf in the foreground entering the frame from the top right hand corner. That is distracting. Someone may have referred to that. Moving a little bit to the left would have helped in avoiding that. Remember, people often can't explain what they say. :D

I would have preferred more space all around in this image.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Chitrita Chatterjee]

there is clutter.... true... but in this picture it seems to work....a tusker in its natural habitat... this one certainly isnt offering a Mr Universe pose... :-)