Background question

Hi my friends...
I´m preparing BIG photoshoot of all members of my collection for my personal catalogue... one by one and I need your advise... WHAT BACKGROUND COLOR IS THE BEST?? I saw red, yellow, blue... I have light green but i want to change it so... What is your opinion?        

Hi Martin,
I think it's just a matter of taste and idea
Black for example looks very elegant and if You use very good lighting colors of each figure may look really impressive in contrast to pure black background (use black velvet for that).
Another idea may be brown because most animals are in warm "colors" nice brown may give You nice warm effect of whole photo, but again lighting will be important.
Also white is chosen by many collectors, probably because it is just most neutral color for background (Ken does very nice photos with white backgrounds ). Grey is also very neutral but may be boring.
You can also use kind of mini diorama for background and photo with landscape or something like that. Then You may use different for each continent and type of animal (You can have several categories for that).(Look at Kristie's beautiful photos)
Normal wooden table with white wall is also nice solution, very simple but really nice. Texture of the wood is very nice thing. And You can put special thing for scale next each item, just like our Christophe does :)
Red, green, blue are very "strong" colors for backgrounds and may "take" attention of viewer from the figure. And figure should be more important than background in my opinion. But it may look really nice too.

As You see there is so many possibilities, decision is Yours Maybe You have own, completely different crazy idea? That would be nice to see

wow Anna :) Thank you for your huge opinion :) It´s totally fantastic :) I was thinking about red but now... i don´t know. I saw collections with red and i like that... White is little bit steril for me Well i have to try more colours:) Ofcourse the main thing is the lightening... i made my little photo studio yesterday so... I can´t wait :)

Yes You can try many variants before You decide I can't wait to see effects

Can't wait!
do you have to use the same color for all? i think i'd change color depending on what best suits each piece, but i understand using all one color for uniformity.

i use a light green because
- green is my fav color
- sheep look good against green
- most of my figures are white and many are reflective, and strong colored backgrounds can appear to affect their color
- white doesn't offer enough contrast
- black is too obvious. And it's dramatic - these are sheep after all. And some of their little black legs disappear into black.

i'm still being a chowderhead and haven't gotten off my duff to get a little mini studio. i need side lights.

Most important - a background should be matt, not glossy, to eliminate glare.
I prefer light natural colors that could be seen in nature: beige, light yellow, light green....

ana wrote:

Hi Martin,

Red, green, blue are very "strong" colors for backgrounds and may "take" attention of viewer from the figure. And figure should be more important than background in my opinion. But it may look really nice too.

...Yeah! Not red and blue bacause "they are very "strong" colors and may "take" attention of viewer from the figure"! Anna is right!

Think about your models and the colour of your models, backgrounds need to be good enough to be meaningless.

The dark grey background is very elegant too, like black indeed, and is also very useful to be sure of your colour t°.


If you have to touch the pics after shooting them, then take a first pic with a white sheet to make the balance.

I need to but something less vibrant for background for my photos - now I'm using green shawl, it seems to be too bright, and affects colour balance too much.

I think I need to make some simple dioramas for default backgrounds.

thank you guys for your opinions :) :) I´m still searching for the right one color...

If you prefer a fix colour white is easy to go with and you can etch up the image, do to whatever you like.

Hmmmmm. Well I would suggest you stay away from...

green with purple polka dots.. ...and blue with yellow diagonal stripes!



You'll just have to experiment with backgrounds. Show us some backgrounds you are thinking of using and we'll take a vote - if you want...

How about a tan the color of a desert?

I thought that shade of red that Alejandro uses in his photos looks good with most of his animals/creatures?


Whatever you chose I'm certain it will look excellent!

~ Sue

I like using wood colour backgrounds recently, mostly a sandy brown.

This is a very interesting subject

White background doesn`t work for me, esp on white and very dark models the details don`t show. A sandy colour is better, but tends to come out a bit too yellow for me if the light is set too near

Blue works well for white models. but not at all for yellowish models like tigers, lions etc...

For a long time I used green background, but with my new, so-called "daylight" bulp, which gives a blue ligh, green becomes horrible, almost fluroescent

But I am the absolute about photoes, so take my experience for what it is worth.

I am very interested to hear your findings if you make some tests

I am going to take on the insane task of getting photos of all my figures So I was wanting some advice on the best backdrop to use. The natural lighting in my room isn't the greatest and I really can't go outside anywhere too cold brrrrrrr, so Let me know which of these you like best or if there is another option that you would use instead I would love to hear it as I am NOT a good photographer. Thanks so much

1


2


3


4


5

I like the totally light blue one best.The figure is the most important thing,so I think you should use this one. :)

I prefer the 4th photo.

For this animal I prefer the number 3, it gives a good contrast

skysthelimit wrote:

For this animal I prefer the number 3, it gives a good contrast

I agree with Robert
For darker animals another background may be more suitable.

But if you want only one background, a unicolour background may be best.

Good luck, it takes A LOT of time.

i vote for #4 all blue.

You are trying with one of the hardest figures, it is white and with a little shiny touch. Try different figures, for example also a darker one, one of a medium colour and other with a huge contrast like a panda, for example. :) You will se that figures work in different ways according with the background. So, if you only want to use a background you should choose something between a average green or blue.
I'm one of the worst photographers in the forum but I'm sure many members here will give you very nice suggestions! :)
There's a nice point of photographing our collection, when we are doing it we are not spending money with them and tasting any detail of any figure. I'm eager to see your complete collection!

White animals need dark background to see the details.

Otherwise I like your style with the green "herbs and leaves" on foreground.

Thanks for the feedback I actually picked a white figure because they are the ones I have the hardest time with. Either the flash washes them out or its too dimmed. I think I might go to the fabric store and get a piece of light blue fabric and try for a "seamless" photo might get some black too for the white figures.

Hi Rusty,

Alejandro - who on the forum is "atabini" is one of many of our excellent photographers and shared his set up for how he managed to get photos of his collection.
Here is the link. You may find it helpful.

https://sts-forum.forumieren.de/t834p45-my-collection-from-peru

I still need to get something set up to take my photos.

~ Sue