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  #1  
Old 16th June 2022, 10:46 PM
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Default Let's talk backdrops and backgrounds...

I'm struggling to decide on backgrounds; plain, abstract, themed, light, dark, smooth, textured

So please, feel free to share your thoughts on what photographic backgrounds you feel work, for portraits and still-life subjects specifically, and those that you feel don't.

Examples or links to examples are welcome too.
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Old 17th June 2022, 04:44 AM
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You need variety, currently I'm using cloth backgrounds, white, black, and light and dark blue. Don't make the mistake of buying cheap ones from eBay etc, they are thin and undersized>

For still life images often I shoot on a white background and use foam board.

In the past I used Colorama paper backdrops of various colours. But I only recently bought a second-hand backdrop stand at a camera fair, and the cloth backgrounds were £10 each. While new, essentially they are old stock from a distributor who has retired.

Ian
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Old 17th June 2022, 06:23 AM
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Ian, multiple backgrounds seem the likely option. I suppose background colour doesn't really matter when using b+w?

Especially with monocoloured backgrounds, do you have any issues with the camera seeing folds, seams or creases in the backgrounds, creating unsightly shadows etc.?

Or is it better to have creases galore in order to randomise any material distractions?

What do you find are the best ways to store your backgrounds when not in use?
Do you have space to leave them in situ or do you roll them up?
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Old 17th June 2022, 06:28 AM
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I suppose one of the issues I have is space. Nothing can really stay up any longer than for the time of shooting. And storage is at a premium in our house!
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Old 17th June 2022, 08:10 AM
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Marty, yes the camera sees the folds, and it isn't an issue. However if I want no fold, creases, etc, I would buy Colorama paper background rolls. I used to use them a lot in the past, with a friend we bought a few hundred, all discontinued colours, and kept a few, selling off the rest.

For B&W I prefer either a white or a black background.

Ian
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Old 17th June 2022, 12:34 PM
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The tone of your background depends a great deal on how much light you throw on it.

A white background with almost no light on it can turn in to a very dark grey - if you can get enough physical separation between your subject and your background for sufficient light fall off.

White backgrounds (plus their shades of grey) are the most common and most flexible for portraits.

Black backgrounds are more tricky. The standard Colorama black paper roll is quite a reflective beast and often comes out as a darkish grey.

A really deep deep black background for a portrait can be very dramatic - making your subject almost leap out of the frame of the print, particularly if they have pale~ish skin tones or hair. But, this only applies to a very few subjects and only tight head shots.

A company called Culture Hustle does some really good deep black black paint - and can be applied straight on to to wood (not sure about expanded polystyrene).

Single sheets of 8x4 foot (I'm sure they are now a metric size now) on their own are not big enough to make a portrait background unless you have the subject almost directly up against it. Normally you need at least two sheets together, if you are doing anything more than tight head shots.

Longer lenses help to keep the size of your required background under control.

A spot meter (flash and/or ambient) is a very useful tool for assessing the tones in your shot.

If you are shooting with flash, set the flash heads to their proportional setting and eliminate all ambient light - the effect that you are trying to achieve is easily masked with high levels of background ambient light.

A really wide aperture helps throw any background imperfections out of focus - although often not as much as you would like - so lenses are best used wide open or only 1~ish stops down.

It really essential that your portrait set-up is truly set up and ready to go before you introduce your model - nothing is more likely to kill a portrait that a bored looking model. A test subject (victim?) is a great help here.

If you would like your subject to smile in the shot asking them to smile often results in a very wooden grimace - when you are ready to fire the shutter - instead - ask them to blow a "raspberry" and the resulting giggles and laughter will produce lots of genuine smiles.

Good luck and have fun.

Studio photography - whether portraits or nudes are a specialism in their won right.

Martin
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Old 17th June 2022, 04:03 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MartyNL View Post
I suppose background colour doesn't really matter when using b+w?
Since backgrounds come out as a greytone, the background should be the desired greytone, which as said before depends on the intensity of given light and on the strength of the reflected light.

It also will depend on what your film, concerning to colours, is able to "see" btw not able to see.
Par example using a red background with orthochromatic film will give a black bg, but the same colour recorded with superpanchromatic film will give a brighter background.


""Especially with monocoloured backgrounds, do you have any issues with the camera seeing folds, seams or creases in the backgrounds, creating unsightly shadows etc.?""

Simply: yes :-)
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Last edited by Reginald S; 17th June 2022 at 04:13 PM.
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Old 17th June 2022, 04:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MartyNL View Post
I suppose background colour doesn't really matter when using b+w?
In using b&w you always have to translate colours, light and shadows to greytones.
So backrounds and background colours have a great impact, either good or not so good, depending on your personal intentions and mainly how humans will recognize/"read" your print.

Concerning lighting I could recommend William Mortensen's book "Pictorial Lighting".
It covers a lot around this theme and I have found it worth each penny.

Concerning masterful portraits I could recommend William Mortensen:-)

If you want to see what perfect light can do to your still-life, the images from Christopher Broadbent should be a good advise.
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Old 17th June 2022, 05:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MartyNL View Post
So please, feel free to share your thoughts on what photographic backgrounds you feel work.
I find it difficult to answer such global questions but they will give a lot of opinions and ideas.

A portrait isn't the same as the next portrait - each are different, or with different intentions, or of different colours concerning the delinquent's clothes and skin.

Sometimes I like to give some fuzz to the backround.
Mainly I don't like pure white backgrounds.
Pure white comes to clean in my opinion. Boring clean. But that's me.

As said by Martin black bgs could give ( will give?) expressive sujets right out of the big nothing.
To me this works for portraits and for still-life:

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With some undesired but ugly eliminated reflexions:

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A comparism to the black portrait backround , a slightly greyish one with mild structures:

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Last edited by Reginald S; 17th June 2022 at 05:22 PM.
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Old 17th June 2022, 11:02 PM
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Thanks for the input guys.

It sounds like a bit of trial and error is needed to try and find out what works for me and my set-up.
I'll keep my eyes peeled for decent backdrops and see what turns up.
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