Digital Background
Digital Background (a.k.a. digital backdrops)
portraiture has become very popular in the last few years. This is
becoming evident by the increasing number of websites selling
digital backgrounds on Cd. It’s no secret that I use digital
backgrounds myself for much of my studio work. I have learned some
great tips from trial and error on using digital backgrounds. Here
are my top 5 tips on using digital backgrounds.
1. Shoot subject in front of a white background.
You are just making it
harder for yourself if you shoot the subject in front of a busy
background with the intention of extracting them. Do yourself a big
favor and save yourself from headaches by shooting them in front of
a solid color. A very common misconception is that you must use
chromo key screens (blue or green) to get a good extraction. This is
totally false. It may be true for video but not digital portraits.
2. Properly lighting the background.
You can use a cheap
little slave flash to light the background for you, which makes
extractions a whole lot easier. I bought mine at Ritz camera for $30
and it is worth every penny.
3. A Good extraction is a must!
This is pretty
obvious actually. You definitely don’t want your portraits looking
fake. To perform extractions, most people generally use the
extraction tool in Photoshop. I use to do the same until I mastered
Photoshop’s eraser tools. I get far more consistent results using
the erasers than the extraction tool and you will too with a little
know how.
4. Properly blend your subject with your background.
Chose the color of
your background that best compliments your subjects clothes. Often,
colors of the same family work best. Dark with darks, lights with
lights, reds with reds, and so on. This is often overlooked by
beginners but has a very dramatic effect on the end result. Once
digital backgrounds are loaded into Photoshop, their colors can
easily be changed.
5. Vignetting can make all the difference.
Ever notice in many
portraits that dark quasi-circular area around the subject? That is
a vignette which is designed to draw the viewer’s attention to the
center where the subject is. Many people instantly will use the burn
tool for this purpose. This can be quite limiting. A far easier and
faster tool in Photoshop is the gradient tool, especially when it’s
on it’s own layer which gives you far more freedom than the burn
tool.
There
you have it. Following these suggestions I have given you will
greatly improve your digital background portraiture.
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