Choosing and using backgrounds

It's easy to spend all your attention on the subject and forget that whatever's behind them is in the photo too. A background that clashes, distracts, or just doesn't suit the shot can undo an otherwise good picture — here's how to think about it.

Studio backdrops

Paper rolls, muslin and vinyl backdrops give you a controlled, repeatable background — useful when you want the subject to be the entire story, with nothing behind them to distract from it. Plain colours are the most forgiving to light evenly. Keep your subject a reasonable distance in front of the backdrop rather than pressed against it; this stops shadows falling directly onto it and gives you room to light the background separately from your subject if you want it brighter, darker, or a different colour entirely.

Textured and location backdrops

Brick, exposed concrete, painted walls and set-dressed corners add character a plain backdrop can't, but they demand more attention — check the edges of your frame for anything that competes with your subject: a bin, a sign, a doorway that draws the eye away. A background with some texture and depth photographs best slightly out of focus, so a wider aperture that blurs it gently often works better than one that renders it as sharp as your subject.

Outdoor backgrounds

Outdoors, you're choosing rather than building the background, so walk the location before you shoot and look for what's actually behind your subject at the angle you'll be shooting from, not just where they're standing. A background that's too busy, too bright, or too close in tone to your subject's clothing will fight for attention. Distance helps: putting space between your subject and the background (and shooting with a wider aperture) throws it out of focus and quiets it down.

Colour and contrast

A background should support your subject, not compete with it. Aim for a background that contrasts gently with your subject in tone or colour — a light backdrop behind dark clothing, or the reverse — rather than one that blends into it or clashes so hard it becomes the first thing you notice.

Where to practise this

Our studio sessions let you try several backdrop colours and set-ups in one day, and our outdoor and location workshops are picked with exactly this in mind — so you get a feel for reading a background before you commit to a shot.