Talk to me about backgrounds

[tommo]

Reading other threads, I have picked up on there being a sense of white backgrounds 'going out of fashion', a bit boring, people getting tired of them etc. What is the new 'fashion'? What are people asking for as the background colour? Do they in fact ask for a specific colour in a studio session?

Also, what material is best to use? Patterned or plain? And can you use any material like curtain fabric, or does specific background material offer advantages?

 

[amfoto]

Looks like the punters decides when white going out of fashion ,,, while it still makes them buy it,, why would u change it ,,,, me ,, offft i dont like white ,,,

 

[iamtheoneneo]

Iv always been fond of black, but I find grey has good tone to it during portrait.
I dont think white is going out of fashion , its just that its a pain in the ass to light as intended.

 

[Stevie-]

We primarily shoot on grey mainly because we like it better in the last almost 300 shoots I've been asked to shoot on white 4-5 times and have maybe shot on white 20 times.

Seamless paper is my preferred choice (we also use blue/green/purple/yellow).

I'm also leaning towards an unlit white for a nice grey.

 

[TG.]

Reading other threads, I have picked up on there being a sense of white backgrounds 'going out of fashion

From customers point of view, that would appear not to be the case, people seem to love it for family/group/prom type photos, for varying reasons, ie looks great on the wall from someone who just wants nice looking photos, of family, white fits in with any colour frame, and decor that's in the home, from a photographers point of view i don't find it leaving much room for creativity (lighting wise that is) and not in what i term the sausage machine venture type of photography anyway, which you just churn out the same stuff day in day out, without doubt at the moment it has it's place, how long it lasts will depend on the market, i remember when the blue sky type backgrounds were all the rage, in school photos, i think it now looks really dated, maybe the blown white background will go that way eventually, who knows, one things for sure, their is bound to be something that takes it's place

 

[Garry Edwards]

I think that it IS going out of fashion, but a lot of people still like it.

It has been popular for many years with high end fashion, then Venture made it popular for family portraits. For Venture, it may or may not have been a marketing decision, I don't know - it could have just been that their whole style was extremely easy to create (in a large studio space) - which de-skilled the whole operation and made it ideal for franchised businesses.

It's strange. Nearly everyone who still does it says that it's what their customers want, and nearly everyone who has moved away from it says that they are doing better without it

In a limited space, white backgrounds produce their own problems re wrap, unwanted light bounce and flare. Black backgrounds are ideal from a lighting viewpoint but, like white, they have the problem that there is no sense of depth. Given the choice of either, I generally prefer black, but given a complete choice I prefer grey - it's versatile!

i remember when the blue sky type backgrounds were all the rage,

They still are in some countries
The advantage of those horrible blue backgrounds is that they complement skin tones pretty well, because everyone (regardless of skin colour) has a lot of red pigmentation.

 

[The Noir Dude]

I have been doing Black background at events for years now. We offer white and black at events and 99% of people don't even have their shots taken against the white.

This is a shot from tonight's Ball

 

[amfoto]

I have been doing Black background at events for years now. We offer white and black at events and 99% of people don't even have their shots taken against the white.

This is a shot from tonight's Ball

Wins every time