Background color - White or Black?

[patrick_f]

<p>Hello all! I am in the process of re-doing my website and will be going with either Livebooks or Foliolink (whom I had before). Not looking for the expensive pro accounts, just the middle of the road priced portfolios. The ONE thing that bothers me about the livebooks accounts is that most do not offer a black/black background...just grey or white. There are things about Foliolink that bothered me before, so I am a little torn about going with them. But anyway, my real question here is the background color...Black, or White? Are there any trends going on? I prefer black because it makes my images pop, but I also have a huge portfolio for a HUGE client that was all shot on white (so the white will look seamless). Any opinions? I really want a black background but if I go with livebooks I might be stuck with white (I do not want gray or any other color at all). Does white take away from the images in your eyes? (It does to me). Is black dated? Thanks in advance!</p><div>[ATTACH=full]642432[/ATTACH]</div>

[patrick_f]

<p>In the above pic, you can see how this image (and many many more like it) will look against a white background. Does the image get lost on the white? Would black make it look....stupid? I shot 19 of there cataloges and have a tremendous portfolio of there stuff, but it is all set against white. I hate white photosites but I do need to take this into consideration. Thanks for the input!</p>

[aqualarue]

<p>I am not really a professional here at all. But I took some advice a while back from an experienced and professional artist. Black makes the viewer focus on the image, white gives the viewer space. White is to be preferred for emphasizing colourful imagery, especially where space is concerned, black makes the colours more saturated and confined. White is good for emphasizing the darker to midtone ranges, white is good for the reverse of this. But above all, go with your gut instinct and aesthetic preferences, know the rules in play but do not allow yourself to become their prisoner. I am sure there are much better advisors out there, but maybe something here might help.</p>

[User_6502147]

<p>know the rules in play but do not allow yourself to become their prisoner. </p>

<p>I totally agree with this. As I'm still in design stages, I do prefer darker background because of the contrast that creates. Don't want any extra frames created to lure the person's eye into the photo....I mean if the photo doesn't have it's <em>own two legs</em> then adding anything makes the whole process shallow - IMHO. That said, I was able to tweak the black into "almost" black (though not gray) and I appreciate this flexibility....this may not be the option on low costing sites. Not sure of the trend, but only saw few really good lighter color background sites in the last 10 yrs. Good luck.</p>

<p>Les<br>

</p>

[marklcooper]

<p>I've not formally studied the issue, but all the big name sites have white backgrounds: Photo.net, Amazon, Microsoft, B&H Photo, Facebook, Flickr. There are many photos on all these sites. My own non-commercial site has a white background and lots of pictures ( <a href="http://auntellensfarm.com/marks-stuff">http://auntellensfarm.com/marks-stuff</a> ). I am in the process of writing a business plan for going commercial with my photography. I'm 98% sure I'll be going with Zenfolio for my new site and I'm 99% certain the site will have a white background.</p>

<p>I personally have a hard time with white text on black/dark backgrounds. It just annoys me to try to read whatever text is on such a site. I just skimmed through several of my photography books. The majority (98%) of the pictures are displayed on bright white pages.</p>

<p>I'm an engineer (BE in EE), not an artist so I'm pretty sure I think more logically/technically vs emotionally. I'm sure this affects my viewpoint on a 'proper' web site.</p>

<p>Your sample photo is a product shot. To me that calls for technical thinking and a white background.</p>

<p>Good luck,<br>

Mark</p>