Photography is how we share what we create, but there’s more to getting the perfect shot than just pointing your camera at your subject and pressing the shutter. Photography involves several aspects like your lighting, setup, subject, and - perhaps most importantly - your background.
The color of your background can help to showcase your subject, create mood and tone, and even evoke positive emotions in the viewer. So, what is the best color backdrop for your shoot? Our guide on which colors work best for certain photography niches and styles will help you get started on creating an image that packs a visual punch.
What Color Backdrop Is Best For Photography?
Product Photography
The best part about setting up your product shoot is getting to choose the background. Unlike other forms of photography, product photography gives you a sense of creative freedom and allows you to run wild with your background choices.
White Backdrops
White backgrounds are used in almost every niche of photography - and for a good reason. White backgrounds are classic and sleek and are generally easy to find in practically any material.
A plain white backdrop, like the Replica All-White, is great for pulling focus to your product without having any distracting background noise. It's also great for pairing with a textured or color backdrop to tone down the look and let the texture of the other backdrop shine.
If you’re using a white backdrop, you’ll also need to ensure that your background is clean. If you use a white material such as paper or fabric, you’ll notice that they tend to become dirty pretty quickly.
So, if you’re wondering how to get a perfect white background in product photography, you should consider using a backdrop material that can be cleaned easily. If you’re looking for the best fabric for backdrop photography (or in other words, best "material" for backdrop photography), you won’t have to look further than us. Replica Surfaces are great for this purpose and only require a quick wipe down with a damp cloth.
Black Backdrops
Similar to white backgrounds, a black backdrop can also help to draw the viewer’s eye to your product. It does, however, create a totally different mood to a white backdrop.
Here, we paired the Slate Replica Surface with Gloss Black. The Gloss Black Special Release backdrop acts like a mirror and creates an incredible reflection of your subject when shot at eye level.
You may not want to choose a black background if your product is too dark, though, as this can make it difficult to distinguish the features of your product from the background of the image.
Colorful Backdrops
Colors are an easy way to add a touch of fun and seasonality to your images. You can also show a lot of personality through colored backdrops.
Colors are also known to elicit certain responses in people. For example, blue can elicit feelings of creativity, whereas green can induce a feeling of calm.
So if you’re shooting a product that is linked to creativity, the Amalfi Blue backdrop can help you to link your product with the idea of creativity and evoke a certain feeling in potential clients.
The variety of colors in Replica's catalog make it easy to mix and match ones that suit your taste and brand.
Detailed Backdrops
Using a backdrop that’s more detailed is a fantastic way to give context to your product and its intended use.
So, if you wanted to showcase a product that you would use in your kitchen, you could use a tiled background surface to replicate a tiled kitchen wall or backsplash.
You could even use multiple surfaces for product photography to create the illusion of a certain environment by adding a detailed backdrop both behind and underneath your product. For example, a marble Replica Surface can help to create the look and feel of a marble kitchen counter.
Portrait Photography
Portrait photography, also known as portraiture, is a style of photography that uses good lighting, backdrops, and positions to capture the essence of a person or group of people.
To get the highest quality photos, you can use any of our picks for the best photography and background lighting kits.
Color Backdrops
Color backdrops draw attention to certain features of your subject or model, like their eye color or skin tone. While color backdrops look stunning behind a model, you should make sure to use colors that will complement your model’s clothing.
For example, if you are trying to photograph your subject in a way that showcases their outfit, you should think about what colors will help all of the details of the clothing stand out. So, if your subject is in a white dress, you could use a dark green background to create a mood and draw attention to the crisp white of the dress.
White Or Black Backdrops
Similar to color backdrops, white or black backdrops draw attention to your model’s features and clothing. You can create stunning portrait photography with a white background to help bring fine details to the forefront of your image. This is true for most neutral-colored backdrops.
Black and white backdrops are good for models with different skin tones, features, hair color, and eye color. They are more diverse and can even help your headshots to look sharper and more defined.
Lifestyle Photography
Picking a background for lifestyle photography is a little more tricky. Lifestyle photography is a type of photography that focuses on capturing images of people in everyday life, real-life events, or milestones in an artistic way. The major function is for photographers to connect people to personal experiences through their work.
One of the best backdrops for lifestyle photography is a background that mimics a natural environment such as a street, in a home, or outdoors.
Tips For Choosing The Best Color Backdrop
Making sure your subject gets center stage is the golden rule of excellent photography and backdrop color choice. As a result, neutral colors are usually always a great option. There are a variety of subjects that can benefit from warm or cool grays.
Tan, cream, white, and neutral shades of almost any color on the color wheel can be used. Black and white photographic backdrops also help you achieve a sleek, professional look that highlights your subject perfectly.
If the product you're capturing contains a lot of warm tones, a cool background hue will help the item stand out even more. When shooting product photos for a website, using a light background with a dark color product or a dark background with a lighter product creates a lot of contrast in your image.
Alternately, using identical tones for the product and background will result in a much calmer, more nuanced image that will appear more sophisticated but with less impact.
Whichever background you choose, you want to be able to see your product clearly. If the background distorts the product or makes it difficult to see, it's a clear indication that you should try something else. You should always make sure the product or object you want to highlight shines so that you are portraying the subject as accurately as possible while still showcasing its better features.
Did you find our blog helpful? Then consider checking:
- Best Size Backdrop For Photography
- Control the Background in Photography
- Photo Compositions to Know
- Natural Lighting
- Depth Perfection
- Light + Airy Photography
- Dark + Moody Photography
- Food Styling
- Product + Flat Lay Styling
- Clothing Photography
- Drink Photography: The Splash Technique
- Your Ultimate Photo Resource
- What Is The Best Lighting For Product Photography
- Can You Use A Ring Light For Food Photography
- How To Light A White Background Photography
