Jeff Smith's Guide to Head and Shoulders Portrait Photography

To make my life simpler, I purchase or paint most of my backgrounds as
monochromes (whites, blacks, and shades of gray). This allows me to use most
of my backgrounds with any color of clothing. Then, I use the amount of light
from my background light to control the tone of the background, helping to
coordinate it with the tone of the subject’s clothing. Monochrome backgrounds
also work well with colored gels, when that is something I want to do.
Lines and Textures.To really complicate the issue, you have lines and tex-
tures in many of your backgrounds and in clients’ clothing. So what do you do?
If you know the answer to that question, please e-mail it to me! Okay, I’m just
kidding—but once you have this many variables in the mix, it’s easy to see that
there are no hard-and-fast rules, just guidelines to make the process easier.
In most cases, when you have lines or textures in the background, the sub-
ject’s clothing will coordinate best when it does not have a competing texture
or pattern. Conversely, when the subject’s clothing has lines or patterns, the
best background selection will usually be one that does not add a competing
texture or pattern. Basically, if the background has lines or texture, the cloth-
ing should be solid; if the clothing has lines or texture, the background should
be solid.

32 JEFF SMITH’S GUIDE TO HEAD AND SHOULDERS PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

Neutral-colored backgrounds work well

with any color of clothing. They can also

be gelled to coordinate with the subject’s

clothing selection.