Bridal Portrait indoors backgrounds

Looking for suggestions of what's considered modern or up to date backgrounds for

indoor bridal portraits. This is for those times that you have to used some type of

background like canvas, muslin or paper rolls.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

Just for the record, I never have to use a background. I almost always will use one, for the bride's portrait if nothing else. I've got canvas, muslin, and a few flex-outs. The small flexouts are very portable and can be put up and taken down in less than a minute....now the lighting you use can be complicated or simple. The attached flexout is from my set up last Saturday for the bride's portrait once her hair, makeup, dress, demeanor, etc was all perfect. In terms of what is in vogue or style that is largely up to you...I would suggest that you look at the bridal mags and search websites of photographers that you admire....For a huge selection try http://www.backdropoutlet.com/ they also have an Ebay outlet with very good prices.<div></div>

Thanks Dave...I'm thinking of something like that with a LightSphere diffuser.

 

Where did you buy your portable background?

David...sorry, I was reading too fast. Thanks for the link.

David...I checked the site and those are a great idea. I could use some for pet portraits as well. You know what works. Thanks.

Jake--two people made the comment in the previous thread about the background being dated. Why don't you ask them directly, as I don't understand the comments either. The mottled pattern is your typical "masters" type backdrop painting style--unless they mean the use of any painted backdrop is dated.

 

You don't "have" to use a painted background. You can almost always use the actual environment in some way--even if it is ugly. See the previous thread about ugly backgrounds, and most backgrounds are not that ugly. I always prefer to use the bride's own environment when photographing bridal portraits. It's much more personal. I do carry a pop-up backdrop for emergencies when the weather is bad, but I only use it when I am hemmed into a small space (10'x 10')with extremely ugly walls, for instance, like a small nursery room in a church covered with kiddie art, or children's primary colored alphabets or something--plus it's raining outside and the bride refuses to step outside the room. Doesn't happen that often.

You can also simply use a white wall. Without a background light it will drop off to a soft gray like the shot below. You can also slave a strobe with a peanut or similar flash trigger and blow the wall out for a Hi-key effect. The blue flexout above is model #FLX114... I also like my FLX112 and have another with white on one side and black on the other.<div></div>

In spite of ugly walls and hokey plastic plants and no back drop. Wouldn't a shorter focal length lens and depth of field become your friends in a hurry, in lieau of nothing else?

Larry--don't you mean longer focal length and DOF? With a telephoto, you can cut out most everything except what is directly behind your subject and with a shallow DOF, blur that out.

If I had nothing else, (course, I'm at a wedding and my flexout fits easily tucked under an arm and I've got all my backup gear and everything else but not my flexout) then as Nadine said you can't go with shallow DOF but then you have to look at the light more critically rather than the background....Alot of people want to debate which is better, backdrops or the natural environment, I like both, I like more choices. Since the flexout took less than 3 minutes to shoot, set up, and take down I think the extra backdrop shot was worth it. She was a lovely bride and altho theses two shots were taken less than 4 minutes apart I think that each will find a place in an album, on a wall, or on a desk....If I were the groom or the dad I know for sure which shot would be on my desk. The flexout is so easy to transport I'll be taking it stashed under an arm next month for a boat wedding/reception cruise.<div></div>