Photo Tip Friday~ Drape The Background

Set up a plain background next to a window. Use an unpatterned, black or white sheet, blanket, or tablecloth and drape it over a sofa, ironing board, or like I've personally done, tack or nail it to the wall. This creates an instant backdrop. Make sure that your subject sits a couple feet away from the back of the drape, because you don't want harsh shadows cast, and the backdrop is not in focus. Keep the setting simple, just the backdrop, your subject, and maybe a prop. Have everything ready to go, especially when shooting kids. They tend to fidget when they have to wait.

Here are a couple before and afters.....

photo by Andrea Burns

photo by Molly H.

Once you have the photos taken you can open them in Photoshop and make them stunning. In both of these cases above, I used my Burn tool and burned the background to get it rich and deeply black. If you use a white background you can use the Dodge tool. I usually set it on a soft brush and about a 20% opacity and go over it several times. After that I use the Blur tool and blur the background to help lines blend together. In the case of the ballerina, I even used the Clone tool to fill in where the backdrop exposed floor.