Studio Photography and Digital Backgrounds

The article given here was written for Adobe Photoshop 5,6,7,CS, and Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 and 3.

Most photographers who are serious about improving their portrait taking skills have realized that a beautiful background can greatly enhance their photographs.

Muslins are a very popular choice among professionals. However, they can get very costly at several hundred dollars each. For the professional who is well established, this may not seem too much, but for the hobbyist, this may be a stretch.

A less costly alternative is a digital background. With a digital background, one can get the look and feel of a professional looking portrait without the additional cost of muslin.

Many Photography websites also sell digital backgrounds on cd. In some cases…as low as $15.00 dollars for an assorted collection. As with anything else…you usually get what you pay for. Some of these pre-made digital backgrounds are not worth the cd they’re printed on, but some of them are very beautifully made. Even so, you may be wondering how YOU can make your very own digital background. That being said, the following information will help guide you along the way.

Okay, let’s create a digital backdrop using Adobe Elements 2.0. We will create an 8×10 300dpi (dpi = dots per inch or ppi = pixels per inch) digital backdrop. For printing purposes, 300dpi is strongly recommended for a high quality print. This will also create a large file approximately 20.6megs.

Having a fast processor (Pentium 4 or Athlon XP) and at least 256megs of ram will definitely help. Also having your screen resolution on your monitor set to its highest setting 24 or 32bit will give the best results.

Okay let’s begin! If you haven’t already opened Photoshop Elements, do so now.

1. Click on File