Mergers

I learned about mergers and near mergers and how they can be distracting or unsettling in photographs.  A merger is when two objects overlap in such a way as to look like they have merged. Common examples of this are when it looks like foliage is growing out of someone’s head or when two people (or animals, as shown below) overlap and it looks like the person in the front has additional limbs. Near mergers are when an object nearly intersects with your subject in such a way as to be distracting. These problems can often be solved by changing the camera's perspective on the scene before taking the picture--in more extreme cases a complete background change may be prefereble.

Another kind of merger is when objects merge with the frame of the picture. Examples of this include cropping people at the wrists, neck, or ankles in a photograph. Obviously there are great ways to frame a photograph where parts of an object are cropped, but it needs to look deliberate or our mind is distracted by wanting to see the missing pieces. Not cropping the subject or cropping more so it looks more deliberate can solve this problem and make the difference between a well-composed, professional-looking photo and a your average candid photo.