Arrrgh backgrounds!

OrionsByte · Feb 10, 2011

I'm having trouble finding places to shoot where there isn't a really distracting background. Most of the time when I have a chance to use my camera, I'm kinda tied to the house - either indoors or directly outdoors. I can minimize the backgrounds using DOF of course, but it's still busier than I'd prefer.

Indoors is... well, it's a smallish apartment, so it's cluttered. No blank walls to speak of, and even if there were that would get boring really fast.

Outdoors is basically a parking lot. There's a small lawn, and some trees, and a wood fence, all of which are usable, but even then the distracting elements are far too abundant - barbed wire atop the fence, a dumpster in the middle of the lawn, and the trees aren't really isolated from all that other stuff.

As I type this I realize I'm probably expecting too much to try and find good backgrounds if I'm not willing or able to get out of my little hole, but I'm hoping someone might have some advice for me. I've used flash to overpower the subject so that the background drops out to black, but that gets old, and I don't have the money or space to invest in a white seamless or something, and besides I don't have the additional speedlights I'd need to light it with. Anyone have any suggestions?

Here's a shot I took of my daughter tonight (I was going for the "show me your muscle/girl power" thing but she lost interest pretty quickly so this was the best pose I got out of her). I chose this angle so that her little play kitchen would be behind her, and I was hoping that the DOF would be shallow enough that it wasn't distracting. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance!

RJT · Feb 10, 2011

Your daughter is a cutie ! you are running out of options....got any white walls ? I guess you dont have PhotoShop ? got a white sheet ? when we do not have accessories , we have to invent . :wink:

RJ

OrionsByte · Feb 10, 2011

Well, like I said I have some white walls but none that are really "empty" - certainly not empty enough to use for a background, and they're textured to boot.

I've tacked up sheets before but didn't consider 'shopping them out or changing their color or whatever. That could afford me some options... thanks!

Anything else I haven't thought of?

BekahAura · Feb 10, 2011

Nice shot of your daughter! I never would have known it was a kitchen set if you didn't mention it, and no I don't think it's too distracting.

If I were you I'd use the kitchen set to my advantage. See if your daughter would pose again, shoot landscape orientation, and close up the aperture to give more DOF, and get the kitchen set a little more in focus. I just like the idea of showing both sides of your daughter, the muscle bearing tough girl and a girly toy.

Backgrounds don't always have to be plain and beautiful to work out, busy backgrounds can make statements sometimes. I guess that's my point.

Other ideas: Use the ceiling, floor, couch and bed as backgrounds. Get on the floor and shoot upwards, or get on a step stool and shoot down. You haven't run out of possibilities yet, not even in your own home.

Good luck =)

Scatterbrained · Feb 10, 2011

You could always use here toys as props and have shots of here interacting with her playsets. Take her to a park. I've laid black velour fabric on the floor and laid my girls on it, I've draped a faux fur blanket over two chairs and had my daughter sit in front of it, and I've put them in front of a window with a white linen curtain hanging over it which gave me a natural high key white seamless look. There are plenty of options.

thingsIsee · Feb 10, 2011

This is a nice shot, and the back ground is just uneven rather than to busy. Dark on her right light on the left. You could shop out the red circle on the toy, might help.
you could drape a sheet or blanket over the kitchen counter, toys or whatever would give you enough coverage to block out the item, but keep it as a back drop.

quiddity · Feb 10, 2011

you could try this setup then clone out the grey

Bitter Jeweler · Feb 10, 2011

Well, what is your plan for images like this? Competition? Sale? To show potential customers? Are you trying to capture fine art prints?

What you have is an outstanding image of your daughter, to cherish as she grows older.
If you are not doing this for the reasons I listed, just keep doing what you are doing. You seem to be far ahead of the average person taking snaps of the family.

OrionsByte · Feb 10, 2011

I guess my plan would just to have something for display that is beyond a mere snapshot. I mean this kid is growing up with a camera practically permanently attached to her nose, so chances are there will be SOME that turn out well. :lol:

Eventually, I suppose my plan for my photography isn't necessarily to "go pro" or to charge people for sessions, but I'd love to be able to take photos for friends and family that they'd be proud to hang on their wall as well. If I'm going to do that without setting up a studio, one thing I think I need to learn is how to use whatever's available to me at the time to come up with a creative and attractive composition.

So that's where this question came from, and the tips posted so far have been very helpful!

Except for the duct tape.

Scatterbrained · Feb 10, 2011

What lens do you usually use? If you use the 55-200 at 200mm wide open is should render the background as an anomalous lump of color, assuming you can get far enough away. This could turn a parking lot into a gray background with blotches of vaguely car shaped colors.

Bitter Jeweler · Feb 10, 2011

Yeah, see, to me that shot is great. It seems to totally capture her spirit, which is what this is all about. you don't see too many "portrait photographers" getting that.

You could always go for a bit longer lens, and or as fast a lens you can get to maximize the background blur.

But like I said, and someone else did, that background really isn't that busy. It's definitely not "distracting".

OrionsByte · Feb 10, 2011

This was shot at f/2 with my new (to me) 50mm f/1.4 (with an SB-600 camera-right in to an umbrella). If I'm shooting inside my apartment I definitely can't get far enough back to use my 200mm (though I've used it at around 70-100mm before). The point about taking it outside is a good one - if the background was defocused enough you probably wouldn't know it was a parking lot.

Thanks for the kind words, Bitter - it sounds like I'm making this a lot harder than it has to be.

I shot this for my Project 365. The theme this week is "body parts" and since my daughter's been in to showing off her muscles lately I thought it would be a cute shot. Knowing that I wanted to do that, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I would shoot it. I decided on using an umbrella'd flash fairly quickly but got frustrated trying to figure out what I wanted behind her. I would have preferred a more "studio-ish" look to it, but decided having something girly behind her would work okay (I initially was going to use her dollhouse but couldn't find an angle I liked).

So, too much thinking, not enough thought. :lol: