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How to turn any boring office space into an interesting background

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Many of us have been there. You get a call to go and photograph or film some people in an office somewhere. You prepare with all sorts of cool ideas, maybe we could shoot in the lobby, or the roof garden you think. But no, when you arrive you’re shown to a smallish conference room with a massive table in the middle and beige walls. How are you going to make this look cool?

Well don’t worry, there are a few tricks you can use to pimp up even the blandest of offices. In this video from Epic Light Media you’ll discover how.

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Projecting backgrounds behind your subject with the Wemax Nova 4K UST ALDP laser projector

Projectors have been a part of photography for a very long time. Originally, they were designed for boring your friends and family members with slides of your holiday snaps. Since then, though, projectors have become much more useful and now regularly play a creative or practical role in our photography and filmmaking needs.

We’ve shown how you might be able to incorporate projectors into your workflow before, using one as a full-screen preview monitor for video editing. This time, we’re going to take a look at the Wemax Nova 4K ultra-short-throw (UST) ALDP Laser projector with an Ambient Light Rejecting (ALR) screen as a sort of “virtual set” background projection system in the studio.

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The importance of background in photography composition

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Today I will discuss the importance of background in photography composition illustrated with some examples of mine.

Part of a larger series covering elements of composition in photography for which you’ll find links at the end of this article.

I taught myself photography in quite a specific order, I navigated / progressed through various urban photography genres:

Graffiti Photography > Urban Landscape Photography > Street Photography

It’s the reason I realised early how important an image’s background really is, allow me to explain:

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A COVID-19 DIY Project: Quick access to many seamless backdrops

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I have been looking to increase my image sales from my headshot sessions. I decided before the COVID-19 crisis that I wanted to develop a portfolio of headshots with colorful backdrops, instead of my standard white and gray. I wanted to have quick access to all my seamless backdrops, so I could transition to new colors and give my clients different looks.

The challenge I faced was that swapping out rolls felt too slow, and I was going to have more than three colors, and my green backdrop is wider than the others. The standard three-roll holders wouldn’t work for me.

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Quick tips for choosing the perfect background for outdoor portraits

When shooting portraits, the background is one of the things you need to be mindful about. And if you shoot outdoors, you don’t have so much control over it as you do in the studio. In this video, photographer David Bergman will give you a few quick tips for choosing the perfect background and improve your outdoor portraits in an instant.

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Five innovative ways to isolate the subject in your photos

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I have no idea where I first heard this, but it’s extremely true: “the main difference between painting and photography is that the painters need to work hard to put things into their images, whereas photographers have to work hard to take things out of their images.” Painters start with a blank canvas, and every single thing that ends up in the final piece of art is a result of careful craftsmanship, years of hard-earned skill, and raw intention. The photographer’s canvas, on the other hand, is all of the world’s visual chaos, and he or she must deploy an equivalent amount of craftsmanship, skill, and intention to weed out all the fluff.

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Three ways to make the best out of your background in the studio

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Portrait photographers pay a lot of attention to their subjects, but sometimes they don’t pay so much attention to the background. In this video, Jeff Rojas will show you three key ways to make the best out of your studio background and make your photos even better.

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How to create a fake recording studio background with pegboard & a cardboard box

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Sometimes, you aren’t able to get access to the types of real locations you need in order to photograph somebody. Sometimes the location might have a fee to rent it, there might not be enough time to arrange it, or it may simply be out of bounds. But there are other ways around the problem. Like reconstructing it in your own studio space.

When the background is thrown out of focus, it’s easy to fake all kinds of looks. That’s what Jeff Carpenter of Readylight Media explores in this video, where he creates a fake recording studio out of pegboard and a cardboard box for the background of a client headshot.

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How to make DIY 2-in-1 food photography backgrounds for $30

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If you are into food photography, here is a creative and affordable project you might want to try. Food photographer Joanie Simon shares an idea for making your own backgrounds for food shots. They’re affordable, lightweight, but also versatile: you can use them either as surfaces or backgrounds. Also, making these requires only a few components, yet you can be as creative as you like with colors and textures.

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Everything you need to know about paper backdrops with 2 money saving DIYP tips

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Choosing a backdrop for use in the studio largely comes down to personal preference. I rarely shoot in the studio, so I tend to go with cloth backdrops. For those who do it regularly, though, paper is the optimum choice. In terms of cost and ease of use, there’s really nothing out there that beats it. But some people get put off using paper, for one reason or another. Mostly due to a simple lack of knowledge.

In this video, photographer Joe Edelman tells us everything we need to know about working with seamless paper backdrops. Which to buy, how to store them, how to use them, how to make them last longer, and finally a couple of DIY tips to save you some money.

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