Is grey the best colour for a photo background?

Wednesday 21 February 2018, 22:44 by Michelle Peeters | 15,827 views | 5 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

A grey background does not seem ideal. Perhaps a little boring and always the same. However, nothing could be further from the truth, as this video by Joe Edelman shows.

By positioning your lights and using all kinds of coloured gels, you can change the colour of your background time and again. It saves you a lot of space in your studio too!

If you do not light your grey background separately, it will turn black. Put an extra light on it and you can turn it white. With an 18% grey background, you get the best results and the richest colours when you want to change its colour.

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About the author

Michelle Peeters is fotografe en oprichter van DeuxBleus Fotografie. Michelle herkent het bijzondere in het gewone en het gewone in het bijzondere. Ze heeft zich nooit willen specialiseren en is daardoor van alle markten thuis.

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5 comments

ErikvanRosmalen wrote on Thursday 22 February 2018 at 06:53 | reply
That's right, a black background is the only one you really need in a studio...

With one caveat:
Provided that many hobby photographers have a little attic studio that is actually much too small, meaning you can't place your model far enough from the background and therefore can't properly over- or underexpose it separately either. Something to take into account!
Translated from Dutch.

ErikvanRosmalen wrote on Thursday 22 February 2018 at 08:37 | reply
I said black, of course that should be gray. It was still before seven, I hadn't had any coffee yet
Translated from Dutch.

Michelle Peeters wrote on Thursday 22 February 2018 at 09:29 | reply
@Erik: that's indeed correct, good addition (and indeed, coffee works wonders in the morning... )
Translated from Dutch.

Robert wrote on Friday 23 February 2018 at 09:35 | reply
I hope your coffee was black, Erik, because grey coffee, brrrrr. But indeed, lack of space is quite tricky.
Translated from Dutch.

ErikvanRosmalen wrote on Friday 23 February 2018 at 15:26 | reply
Yes Rober, the coffee black and the background gray. Preferably NOT the other way around
Translated from Dutch.

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