Three Easy Ways to Improve the Backgrounds of Your Photos

We can and often do talk endlessly about how to improve the look of your subject in a photo, but crafting a background that complements them can really complete an image. This helpful video will talk about three simple ways to improve the backgrounds of your photos.

Coming to you from Jeff Rojas, this great video talks about three straightforward ways to improve the background of a portrait. Particularly when working in a studio, we take advantage of the environment and circumstances to carefully and precisely craft the look we want for the subject, but we might simply default to a plain background or some sort of standard setup. That's not to say these don't work, but there are other possibilities and ways to set your work apart from what you've done before or to simply experiment and perhaps discover a look you like. And as Rojas demonstrates, they all come down to slight adjustments or something as cheap as a set of color gels. Just be sure to pay careful attention to the spread of light on the background, as this affects the vibrancy of the color you'll get from the gels. Check out the video above for the full rundown.

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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8 Comments

Good timing! 😀

Thanks so much and thanks for watching. :)

Jeffs videos are always short, concise and practical.

You're very kind. Thank you and thank you for watching. :)

Jeff Rojas style is very pleasing and makes learning easy.

Thank you infinitely. :)

Profoto and Broncolor heads are great for applying color gels. Exposed flash tubes (e.g. Elinchrom) are sometimes hard to cover without burning the gels and getting residue.

I couldn't agree more! :)