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What Makes A Good Background for Photos

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Jen Hensey
What Makes A Good Background for Photos

The choosing of a strong backdrop is one of the most critical aspects of successful product photography. A suitable backdrop can not only improve the presence of your subject, but it can also allow you to experiment with sound, mood, and your artistic style.

Photographers face both opportunities and obstacles when it comes to backgrounds. On the one hand, backgrounds can place subjects in focus and make them stand out in a way that shows them brilliantly – but on the other hand, backgrounds can confuse and detract from subjects.

Before you press the shutter trigger, double-check the background.

This technique isn't rocket science, and you'd think it goes without saying – but it doesn't, and you might have prevented many of the errors you see in photos quickly by inspecting the backdrop before taking the picture and taking any evasive action.

Until you take a picture, always check the background. Look for colors that don't match the rest of the picture, bright spots that can confuse the eye, lines that overlap, people that don't belong, and so on.

Adjust how your products' position.

It is another straightforward approach, but it is the first thing you can think about. Sometimes, telling a portrait subject to take a turn to the left or right would solve the dilemma by putting the distraction behind out of frame.

If you are unsure if your history would be appropriate for your subject, test it yourself first. A self-portrait photography session will also allow you to see how your backdrop looks from various angles and experiment with shutter speed, focal length, wide-angle lenses, and double exposure. Who can say? Perhaps one of your self-portrait ideas or tests will result in a novel way to photograph your eventual subject.

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Alter your shooting angle.

If you have distracting objects in the background of a shot but cannot move your subject, another option is to move and aim from a different perspective. It may involve spinning around your subject, going down low to make the sky the backdrop, or even getting up high and aiming down into your subject to make the background the earth.

Blur your backgrounds by adjusting your aperture.

Among the most effective techniques for dealing with backgrounds and foregrounds' distractions is to use depth of field to put the scene out of view. What you're looking for with this approach is an excellent distorted backdrop where you can't see what's going on.

Using a large aperture is the best way to do this. The more open your aperture, the blurrier your backdrop should be.

The simplest way to see this technique's effect is to put your camera in aperture priority mode and take a few shots at various apertures. Start with an f/20 aperture and work your way down – one step at a time. When you get below f/4, you'll note that the backdrop in your shots becomes increasingly blurry.

black and white floral textile photo – Free Apparel Image on Unsplash

Build a custom background.

When there isn't a proper context available, you may want to consider building your own. It may include purchasing a purpose-built studio backdrop or merely purchasing some fabric to do the job for you.

You can also switch objects in the context of your shots, especially if you're shooting indoors. For example, suppose you recently photographed yourself in your home for a publication. In that case, the photographer might have asked you to move various pieces of furniture during the shoot because they were intrusive in the shots. It took some time, but the impact of the shots was incredible.

You can also buy a physical canvas backdrop for your photographs. They are primarily dyed materials, some of which are hand-painted for added realism, giving the pictures a professional look and feel using a background eraser.

Is there such a thing as the best picture background? No, not at all. However, there is a better one for any case – whether it's balloons, the night sky, or a pattern of a hundred cropped cats – the blank space will make the photograph beautifully memorable. So, pay special attention to how you pick the best backdrop – it will make or break your shots.

The backdrop on which you shoot will also affect how much an advertisement meets its targeted audience. For example, you might photograph asparagus against a modern white marble backdrop or a rustic wooden tabletop. Both shoots feature the same subject, but some people would react to and gravitate toward the picture taken on white marble more than others.

Call me Jen Hensey, a writer and blogger of LifeStyleConvo & UrbanHouses, who worked as a full-time content creator. A writer by day and a reader by night.

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