Struggling to find a picture-perfect background for your portraits? Try out these easy yet stunning photo backdrop ideas!
Are you tired of a perfect background match for your photos of your portrait pictures? Well, you’re not alone. Several photographers, models, influencers, and fashion brands are constantly looking for some great background ideas.
However, although a background can add spark to your photos, finding the right background to enhance the look of your portraits can be tricky.
To simplify this task, this write-up presents eight portrait background ideas that you must try to give your images an all-new, dramatic effect. Whether you have taken your photos in the studio or outdoors, these background ideas can be applied to all.
Ready to try exciting portrait photography background ideas? Let’s dive right in!
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Must-try Portrait Background Ideas
The quality of a portrait is determined by many things, like composition, model pose, and camera position.
But, a background assumes the top priority when working with portraits because of its immediate impact on the final image outlook. And so, here are some exciting background ideas to bring out the best in your photos.
Try a white seamless background
Yes, it’s worth a try! This may sound simple & boring to you, but it works wonders.
Shooting with a plain white backdrop is a classic choice. Especially in fashion photography & editorials, a plain white background against your portrait can give it a clean and enhanced look.
A solid white background is a to-go option when trying to attain a clean headshot without any background distractions.
To get a clear white background, you can either shoot against a white background (wall, sheet, or paper). To get better results, you can illuminate the white background with a dedicated light and place your model a little away from the background.
The alternative solution is to take shots of any background. Afterward, you can leverage image background removal services to remove and replace your portrait background with a solid white backdrop.
Solid colored background
Plain solid portrait backgrounds that are well-positioned behind a well-lit subject can complement your pictures without overpowering the subject.
While taking portraits, you can use plain backdrops of any color (whether dark or light) and play around with different color tones by carefully matching the subject’s attire.
However, when using solid color backgrounds, you must have proper lighting to highlight the subject. You can use artificial lights if you don’t have enough natural light.
By any chance, if you find portrait images lacking brightness or being overpowered by the background color, you can correct the exposure levels and color shades When using a solid colored background, you can also consider adding a sun flare to give your photos a natural, window-lit, and interesting look.
Go with textured backgrounds
Textured backgrounds provide an interesting and unique look to your pictures. To add textures, you can shoot your portraits against any plain background and later add textured background while processing the pictures.
Users can use several-available free textured backgrounds on Unsplash or from other stock images services, or can also purchase textured backgrounds. Alternatively, you can use Photoshop to simply add a textured background to your photos.
However, when editing the background and adding a textured background layer, make sure that the layer seamlessly blends with the image. This artistic decision must be taken considering the tone and intent of the image.
So, if you have plenty of images to be edited for background change and are worried about maintaining the quality and integrity of the central concept for all of them, it is better to partner with a reliable photo editing services company.
Doing that will help you get the work done in an effective manner and quick turnaround time.
Try the Bokeh effect
A blurred background, also known as the ‘Bokeh effect’, is often used by photographers to give a wonderful effect to the images.
These images are perfect for uploading on social media and websites that catch users’ attention and best highlight your subject.
To achieve a blurred effect, you can capture such images by adjusting aperture, focal length, and depth of field.
If you are unaware of how to provide a bokeh effect using the camera, you can easily achieve a blurred background using photo editing tools.
Using the ‘Gaussian Blur tool in photoshop, you can achieve the desired results. The best part about using this effect is- you can have your subject in focus regardless of how colorful a background you choose.
Give a beautiful sky background
Adding a beautiful sky to the backdrop of outdoor portrait images is a great option. You can add a clear sky, cloudy sky, gray clouds, or dawn sky effect to give a dramatic look to the portrait images.
Moreover, if the outside weather is not suitable for a photo shoot and you don’t have the desired sky look, you can still take the photo and later replace the sky in any photo editing software like Photoshop.
Changing the sky allows you to establish a broad range of moods for your portrait images with different skies (golden hour, sundown, or sunset). However, remember to remove shadows from the subject during post-processing, if any, for perfect dramatic portrait images.
Try a tile or brick background
Trying out a tile background is a wonderful option if you don’t want to go with a simple or solid-colored background. With a variety of tile shapes, sizes, colors, and textures, you can make your images stand out by using them as your image backdrop.
You can easily find a tile background to shoot your pictures. You can alternatively find multiple choices in software editing tools or also get free images to edit & turn an ordinary backdrop into a tile background.
Alternatively, you can also use a brick wall photo backdrop (which is easily available) for your photos. However, to give it an enhanced look, make sure to use appropriate photo retouching techniques to enhance the overall color & texture of the photos.
Go with super cool murals
If your city is full of exciting and beautiful murals, make the best use of it! You can take interesting shots against murals.
If your subject and concept match this idea, try out colorful, vibrant, and eventful murals, but make sure that the background does not overpower your subject. If that happens in any case, you can blur the background slightly.
On the other hand, if you do not want a very haphazard or funky look in your portraits, you can find murals with more uniform shapes and muted colors (this can also keep your subject in focus).
Use multi-color backdrops
When taking portrait pictures, brands and photographers often stick to single-colored backdrops. However, you can gain absolutely amazing and interesting results if you try various bright multi-color paper backdrops.
You can be highly creative and have endless possibilities with this idea. You can use four-color paper backdrops or tan-colored backdrops, depending on what goes well with the subject of your portrait.
However, ensure that the background colors do not take up the full attention. Ensure that your subject is in focus and is well-lit.
Wrapping Up
Now that you are caught up with all these tips, you should have found some ideas for your portrait pictures. No matter which ideas you go with, just remember to keep the subject in focus, pay attention to picture quality and provide clear & well-lit photos. Also, keep experimenting with these backdrop ideas and turn your simple portrait images into stunning pictures.
So which idea are you going to use first, let us know in the comments!
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