• Canon EOS 6D 85.0 mm f/2.0 1/2500 sec. ISO200

Sometimes you find great light or a truly interesting moment, but you hold back on taking out your camera simply because your house is too messy.

It's so frustrating.

I'm usually a little guilty of this. Realistically, the moment you want to capture won't always be in the perfect location, with perfect light and a clean background. So what can we do? I've got a few set notes and some tips on how I capture even the most cluttered rooms.

1. Take a safe photo, then move as far as you can.things

Here's a safe picture of me! This little one is always trying to find the mug in my room and drink the few drops of coffee left in it (she actually only drinks the bottom so she can throw it in the dishwasher later).

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.2 1/800 sec. ISO800

After I took this photo, I carefully placed the toys on the floor and began moving my lens. When doing this, I find it's best to approach them as if they were animals at a nature reserve. If I move too quickly, or if the child knows you're trying to get a better shot, they'll inevitably fight back. And by "fight back," I mean sabotaging your efforts and refusing to cooperate.

As I carefully placed all the other toys on the floor, my daughter enthusiastically began feeding her horse coffee.

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.2 1/800 sec. ISO800

I moved in a little closer and simplified the scene further, removing the pillows from the frame (only one was on the couch, the rest were on the floor). If they had all been neatly placed on the couch, then I probably wouldn't have bothered avoiding them, as it would have made the composition cleaner.

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.2 1/500 sec. ISO800

In the unedited photo, I placed the bottom of the window frame at the top of the composition, then erased it in post-processing.

This is what the room looked like. It's hard to imagine that the relatively simple photo above was taken from such a chaotic place, right?

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.2 1/500 sec. ISO800

2. Change your perspective: Get closer, fill your frame

Getting close is a great way to eliminate clutter from your frame . By filling your frame with your subject, you'll help the viewer focus on what you want them to be. Clutter and distractions disappear because you haven't given them room in your photo. Getting close is also a great way to capture detail.

Well, take another look, this is my messy living room, with the baby doll tickling her sister's toes. Not much else happened that day, so I thought I'd try to get some nice portraits. My older daughter is annoyed because her sister is tickling her toes, so she sits on the floor in front of the sofa to the right.

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/4.0 1/400 sec. ISO1600

She sat on the floor for a few seconds before lying back down and continuing to read a cartoon. I knelt in front of her and showed her the dirt under her fingernails. Images can be deceiving! She looked calm in this photo, but she was actually irritated with her sister and trying to pick the dirt out of her fingernails.

Because I was close enough, the clutter around the room disappeared from my frame.

Canon EOS 6D 75.0 mm f/3.5 1/1000 sec. ISO1600

Here are some more examples of how changing your perspective by getting closer to your subject can help you hide clutter:

In this picture, my little girl is spending the morning making my coffee. I wanted to capture the action, along with her messy, long hair, dirty bare feet, and the chalk streak on her butt (she'd just been playing outside in just her panties!). This picture is completely "her," and those are the details I wanted in the image, not the other clutter on the counter or the awful look inside my cupboards.

Canon EOS 6D 47.0 mm f/3.2 1/320 sec. ISO6400

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Canon EOS 6D 71.0 mm f/3.2 1/320 sec. ISO6400

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In the scene below, I wanted to capture the details of her bare feet, chubby hands, and the cowboy hat she wears all day. Her little nose and mouth are always open when she's watching cartoons, which is a bonus!

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/2.8 1/250 sec. ISO2500

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Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/1.8 1/1600 sec. ISO800

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The scene below is from an Easter morning, which is always a tough one for me. I don't think I've taken any photos I like, so I focused mainly on capturing how the kids interacted. This is what our dining table looked like. I noticed that Xiaobao was sitting by the window, backlit (and obscured by the table), so I moved as close as possible to block out the other kids' Easter candy. I didn't move anything except myself.

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.2 1/320 sec. ISO2000

Scenario

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.2 1/250 sec. ISO2000

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Here's a scene featuring two kids playing drums and having a party! Initially, I was discouraged because I didn't think I'd get the kind of shot I wanted. My ISO was high, the lighting was chaotic, and overall, I wasn't happy with the image in my viewfinder. Before I gave up, I decided to get closer and wait for the right moment. With less distracting objects, the image now focuses on the baby's antics and the girls' interaction!

Canon EOS 6D 28.0 mm f/3.2 1/400 sec. ISO3200

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Canon EOS 6D 42.0 mm f/3.2 1/400 sec. ISO3200

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In the following photo, we had a bonfire party and teddy bear picnic. As we were getting ready to light the fire, the kids pulled out a bunch of slippers and placed them on the chairs. I was already struggling to capture all those people, and now there were a bunch of slippers! I set up my camera to avoid the house and truck, then waited for the moment.

Canon EOS 6D 50.0 mm f/5.0 1/1250 sec. ISO500

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Canon EOS 6D 50.0 mm f/5.0 1/1250 sec. ISO500

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3. Change your perspective: Shoot your subject from above

When I'm in a room filled with toys, trash, or people, and I want to isolate my subject from the rest of the clutter, I often stand on a chair or coffee table to get a new angle. My kids often play on the floor, so this trick is something I use all the time because it's so easy to do...as long as I can find a clear spot on the floor!

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/2.5 1/640 sec. ISO800

The light was nice and soft when I took this shot, and there were some nice shadows from the way she was lying. I was standing on a chair and leaning forward to shoot so I didn't capture anything on the floor and got a great angle on her face.

Standing on a chair, the chaos of toys, pillows, and blankets scattered on the floor doesn't appear in my composition. The furniture is also gone, which simplifies the picture further.

Here are some more examples of removing distractions from your composition: Position your lens higher than your subject and shoot downward.

Butterfly World!

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/4.5 1/500 sec. ISO800

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Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/4.5 1/500 sec. ISO800

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This is the final scene from an indoor shoot for a newborn client. We were in a small bedroom, with a mother and two small children. To get a clean background, I secured the baby to the bed and stood above him (my camera was securely hung around my neck, and I held it firmly). The bed became a perfectly clean backdrop.

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/4.0 1/500 sec. ISO2500

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Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.5 1/500 sec. ISO1250

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OK, this is actually a wide angle shot, and I prefer this more of a script supervisor's image. However, it helps illustrate how changing your perspective by standing higher and shooting downwards can eliminate distractions.

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/4.0 1/640 sec. ISO1250

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Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/4.0 1/640 sec. ISO1250

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And as a little bonus, if your subject is looking at you, you can sometimes get some really great catch light!

4. Change your perspective: Shoot from a low angle

Shooting from above is also a great way to eliminate distractions; I use it both indoors and outdoors, especially when you're shooting silhouettes.

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.2 1/500 sec. ISO2000

Honestly, I already cleaned this room today...it happens to be my master bedroom. The baby and 5-year-old both sleep in here, even though they have a new room and a really cool bunk bed. This means it's a tough room to keep clean: they drag their toys in here, blankets are everywhere, and there's enough crumbs to attract ants.

My goal was to capture the moment when the baby was wrapped in a blanket and sucking her thumb. She had just woken up from a nap, so this was my shooting environment.

To eliminate the clutter on the floor, I had to change my perspective. I knelt on the floor, waited for her to stand up from the crib, and used the wall as a backdrop (it was the only clean area in the house!).

This is one of my favorite photos. In my original image, there was a light switch on the wall, but I removed it in post-production. Other than that, it's a pretty clean background.

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/2.8 1/250 sec. ISO2500

Again, this isn't really a script; it's a wide shot, which I also like, but it does a much better job of explaining how changing your perspective can completely change your background.

This wasn't my idea! My little guy asked me to lay down in the field so the sky was behind him. I did, and it was a great idea! We were in the field for about half an hour, and I was running out of ideas. This idea really adds something different to my collection. To get this photo, I laid down in the grass with the blue sky in the background.

Canon EOS 6D 85.0 mm f/5.0 1/400 sec. ISO1250

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Canon EOS 6D 85.0 mm f/2.0 1/2500 sec. ISO200

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There's a cool little hill next to our pergola, and I love the angle I can get from sitting at the bottom of it and watching the kids playing in the driveway. If it weren't for the trees in the distance, it would be the perfect spot for a silhouette shot!

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.5 1/800 sec. ISO640

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Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.5 1/1000 sec. ISO640

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I moved to one side of the table, so the clean, flat wall became the background, all the decorations were hidden from view, and the table and chairs formed a good leading line.

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/3.2 1/250 sec. ISO2000

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Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/2.8 1/250 sec. ISO2000

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I might have stepped in some horse poop getting this shot! For the first silhouette, I went as low as I could, but not low enough, so I could still see the tree and/or the fence. I asked her to step forward to block the fence post. Then I moved closer to shoot from above, with a clear sky in the background. How's that?

Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/4.0 1/4000 sec. ISO500

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Canon EOS 6D 35.0 mm f/4.0 1/4000 sec. ISO500

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I don't always try to eliminate clutter from my compositions. I'm a family documentary photographer, so clutter is part of the story, but sometimes I just want something simple and beautiful, and I use these techniques to change my perspective for a cleaner photo. Most of the time, it's much easier than tidying up!

How do you capture beautiful photos amidst the everyday chaos? Let me know in the comments!