Creative advice please - backgrounds

[Deleted member 27989]

I need some creative advice

It is my daughters communion on Sunday and my wive has had a stunning dress made for her. I'd like to take some nice shots of my daughter on her occasion and was wondering what colour/shade would be a good background to set her off. The dress is white and she is rather pale and a strawberry blonde.

Any creative suggestions are most welcome.

 

[Calzor Suzay]

If it's a church why don't you take it outside in the grounds with a big enough aperture and the background far enough away it blurs it out but still gives you some context of where it's being taken and meaning

 

[Dr O]

Depends what mood you wish to convey and what lighting you were going to use- you could always use chromakey green and then PS a background- then you could get really creative.

 

[Deleted member 27989]

If it's a church why don't you take it outside in the grounds with a big enough aperture and the background far enough away it blurs it out but still gives you some context of where it's being taken and meaning

Yes part is at the church and I am ok there, I was more thinking of a few studio style shots with nothing in the background as such. The objective is to make her stand out

Depends what mood you wish to convey and what lighting you were going to use- you could always use chromakey green and then PS a background- then you could get really creative.

That is definitely one option

 

[eduk]

Yes part is at the church and I am ok there, I was more thinking of a few studio style shots with nothing in the background as such. The objective is to make her stand out



That is definitely one option

Bit late for you, but I have just ordered one of these:

PhotoSEL Collapsible Background Disc & Train Add-On WBA on eBay (end time 25-May-11 21:38:22 BST)

 

[12harry]

FWIW Spod is right, IMHO. and then do something fancy later, after the honeymoon.
The day will be fraught enough, without you fafing about...and try to include the bridesmaids also, so it will look "on the day" -
-For example, stand her well outside the church-porch so as to soften the background, with her reasonably close to the camera (dictated by the dress dimensions but try to avoid a WA lens)...also try to avoid backgrounds with striking shapes (difficult to soften later) and use the rules of "thirds" to include the swirl of the dress.

Otherrs may disagree; but I think you want to avoid a stark-black background if you must go for plain. A little lightness in the background helps ink usage (bleeding) when printing. Look in local photographer windows for other ideas of "the norm" - ....

....good luck.

 

[eduk]

FWIW Spod is right, IMHO. and then do something fancy later, after the honeymoon.
The day will be fraught enough, without you fafing about...and try to include the bridesmaids also, so it will look "on the day" -
-For example, stand her well outside the church-porch so as to soften the background, with her reasonably close to the camera (dictated by the dress dimensions but try to avoid a WA lens)...also try to avoid backgrounds with striking shapes (difficult to soften later) and use the rules of "thirds" to include the swirl of the dress.

Otherrs may disagree; but I think you want to avoid a stark-black background if you must go for plain. A little lightness in the background helps ink usage (bleeding) when printing. Look in local photographer windows for other ideas of "the norm" - ....

....good luck.

You don't have bridesmaids at communion.

 

[cedmondson]

You could mock it up in Photoshop.

Take a photo of your daughter in her dress against any plain coloured / evenly lit background (wall, door, curtain etc) which is sufficiently different from her skin & hair tones and use a color range selection to make a cutout. Then just sample possible colours and drop them in as a background - if you're thinking of buying a background paper, you could sample the colours from a suppliers website such as this one.
It won't be perfect but it might help you choose a colour

 

[Calzor Suzay]

Do you have an external flash or ability to borrow one and get it off the camera, you could then set the camera in manual, expose about 2 stops under for the background then use fill flash on her to make her 'pop', This all looks a bit complicated but you get the idea and could achieve it with a wired flash etc

 

[Thug]

I think natural backgrounds are better than anything, but if you want a studio style and have the studio lights to pull it off (and the know-how of course), then use a mid-dark grey background.
With grey, depending on your distance, light power and location, you can make it look almost black or white.

 

[Deleted member 27989]

excellent advice. Yes I will definitely take natural photos as well.

but will also experiment with my speedlights of camera. My wife wants us out of the way on saturday to blitz the house so plenty of time to experiment

 

[OrbitalPete]

Outside with trees/foliage in the background.

 

[Deleted member 27989]

FWIW Spod is right, IMHO. and then do something fancy later, after the honeymoon.
The day will be fraught enough, without you fafing about...and try to include the bridesmaids also, so it will look "on the day" -
-For example, stand her well outside the church-porch so as to soften the background, with her reasonably close to the camera (dictated by the dress dimensions but try to avoid a WA lens)...also try to avoid backgrounds with striking shapes (difficult to soften later) and use the rules of "thirds" to include the swirl of the dress.

Otherrs may disagree; but I think you want to avoid a stark-black background if you must go for plain. A little lightness in the background helps ink usage (bleeding) when printing. Look in local photographer windows for other ideas of "the norm" - ....

....good luck.

Thanks for the tips, but I'll leave weddings well to the professionals. This is just a communion and I wanted to do something in addition to the usual shots. We have plenty of time and there is no rush. Knowing my daughter she'll be up and dress by 7am and the service is not until 2pm And I can always do it another day over the next few weeks and since it is a solo shot nobody would be the wiser if I sort out the Exif

 

[Calzor Suzay]

By the sounds of it she'll end up wearing a Snow White outfit

 

[Deleted member 27989]

By the sounds of it she'll end up wearing a Snow White outfit

Hey you can make fun of me all you like, but no need to go near my daughter

Besides Snow White had a yellow and blue dress not white, and dark hair not strawberry blonde.

 

[Calzor Suzay]

I meant as in you know what kids are like, could of even been buzz light year I saw a kid at a wedding once in what I can only assume was a chewbacca outfit

 

[Deleted member 27989]

Do you know the expression stop digging...Going from Snow White to Buzz Light or alike a Holy Communion occasion with being dressed as Chewbacca is quite disrespectful. Especially when it is pointed out once already.

Fair enough, I post on an open forum and feel free to spout anything you like but a bit of common courtesy doesn't cost anything.

 

[Deleted member 27989]

Anyway back on top...A pal of mine was suggesting either an orange, yellow or brown backdrop. Yuk was my first reaction until he showed some images and it actually worked.

Looks like I'm getting creative on Friday and go to the local fabric shop to buy some muslin and possibly some dye and make my own. Shame all three of my girls are out then as I could do with some help making a seam. Got to look in my old Soldiers handbook now as I do remember doing that during my national service to repair my uniform.

 

[shotokan101]

Anyway back on top...A pal of mine was suggesting either an orange, yellow or brown backdrop. Yuk was my first reaction until he showed some images and it actually worked.

Looks like I'm getting creative on Friday and go to the local fabric shop to buy some muslin and possibly some dye and make my own. Shame all three of my girls are out then as I could do with some help making a seam. Got to look in my old Soldiers handbook now as I do remember doing that during my national service to repair my uniform.

Blue or Turquoise would also work as a background for the colour components you've mentioned IMO

Jim

 

[Deleted member 27989]

cheers, I'll experimenting a fair bit should be fun.

 

[Thug]

I went to a local fabric shop and bought various heavy material, and the ones i used for backdrops were the cheap ones that no one wanted like a dark ugly green. Wouldnt hang it up as a curtain, but it looks great as a backdrop. I also use it as a black out cloth too for the window.

I now use vinyl that i bought from a sign makers for about £4 per meter (2mtr wide, and I bought 6 meters), which is about a third of the price of some from a photographers.

 

[Hillskill]

Have a great day. I had a very religious upbringing and despite not being so inclined in adulthood I have very happy memories of that time of my life and the community we were part of. I remember my first communion vividly.

What camera are you shooting with ? I sometimes use a completely flat picture preset in my 7D so I can grade an image however I want in Lightroom or Aperture. Adobes Kulers is a fantastic tool for colour matching. It will suggest colours that work well together. Perhaps not entirely relevant to what you want but maybe useful in the future:

kuler

 

[Deleted member 27989]

pcthug, and you have shown some fantastic studio shots. Good tip about a sign writer for the vinyl. I definitely go the diy route for the backdrops.

hilskill, thanks. I'll be using my d7000 with 18-50 f2.8 out in the church etc as it should give me my range and deal with the lowish light beautifully. Got to experiment with other lenses for portrait stuff.

 

[Hillskill]

Well depending how keen you are to post process pics I would shoot a few with a flat picture style and have some fun in Lightroom. Good choice of lens, you should be able to get some good shots without being too intrusive. I shot a few pics of my Son with a 50mm f1.8 on the bank holiday just got. He is a bit of a live wire at this age so there was no posing, I just had to get what I could but a couple came out really nicely.

I just realised this is the ungraded vers of the pic.

 

[sleekyG]

How about some floral backdrops with a shade of peach or light pink? I prefer pink anyway.