portrat backgrounds in photoshop

yooperdooper

hello:i am opening a portrait studio and i have experimented with colored backgrounds for some of the portraits in elements 7.What is the best way to make a bacground for a portrait in photoshop?It is best to have the appearance of distance between the subject and the background.thank you john otherwise, i was advised to use canvas or muslim.Do you know the least expensive route for these?or a painted background?

Adam73

yooperdooper wrote:

hello:i am opening a portrait studio and i have experimented with colored backgrounds for some of the portraits in elements 7.What is the best way to make a bacground for a portrait in photoshop?It is best to have the appearance of distance between the subject and the background.thank you john otherwise, i was advised to use canvas or muslim.Do you know the least expensive route for these?or a painted background?

I think this is all subjective. I am not very good at making my own backgrounds in photoshop. If you have a studio I think it is much easier and less time consuming in processing. If you have the canvas or mulsim I would just use them unless you don't have the backgrounds for your vision. I wanted to do a black muslin background and use a red spotlight on the background and couldn't get it to come out right so I made one my self in photoshop. To me it takes somone creatvie to do the backgrounds in photoshop. What I do is just basic. Here is an example of my photoshoped background.

Art Scott

backdrop outlet is having a huge sale right now on canvas and muslin backdrops...........

OWENS ORIGINALS has one heck of a selection of digital backdrops......this might be much less time consuming than trying to make the backdrops yourself.

When out shooting remeber to keep an eye open for a great view that would make a great backdrop to a portrait also....

pathfinder

Nice work Adam. I think if you had used a tightly snooted red light, on a white or light grey background, instead of black, at least 6-8 feet behind the subject in the studio, and made sure to keep the rest of the background unlit by at least 3 stops less than the light on the subject with careful flagging, you could have created this shot in the studio and not have to created it in Photoshop. I am not saying that would have been better, but might have been faster and easier if you have done it a few times in the studio. ( If you have the room to have your subject a good 8 feet from the background to allow separate lighting on the background and the subject. )

You can capture backgrounds with your camera as you walk around - fall leaves, skies, brick walls, etc. You will want careful notes of the light quality, tone, color temp, and direction so they match what you are creating in the studio. I have a folder specifically dedicated for storing neat skies, brick walls, graffiti, and that sort of shot, to use later for compositing in Photoshop.

colourbox

While I haven't done this much, just from seeing some, the real requirement for digital backgrounds seems to be having a fast, efficient way of making a tight, clean mask of the subject. Oftentimes a digital background looks fake, not because of the background or the mismatch with the subject lighting (e.g., wrong colored spill or color fringing), but just because the mask is too sloppy. The one above looks like the mask edges were given a quick blur; they're not sharp. But a sharp accurate mask is hard to do well and quickly. Get a subject with complicated hair or clothing folds, and its game over. That's a big reason it's easier - and faster, overall - just to light it right in camera. Some of the quick background lighting techniques on Strobist.com really opened my eyes, like shooting a blue gelled flash at the wall through a drinking glass to distort.