Backgrounds & Locations for Photography

When you are planning a photo session, have you ever thought about what background would look best for you?  Or what location you would like?  There are infinite possibilities.  Because it may be difficult for you to picture what you would look like in a particular location or with a specific background, a good idea is for you to look through magazines, the internet, etc., for something that you think you would like (whether a pose, background, location, lighting, etc.), and then we can try to find and something similar, using that as only a starting point.  Why only a starting point?  Because you probably would not want the same thing as someone else may have - you want these pictures to be unique, to be you.

It is possible during post production to change a background, or to change the color of what you're wearing, and even to the face from one shot onto the body from another shot (assuming they are similar enough).  However, that would require a lot of work in post production and cost quite a bit more, so we try not to do that.  Some examples are below.  The first one was of Sidney Poitier at Kennedy Airport in 1970 - I couldn't ask him to move to an empty area, and all the other people were distracting, so many years later, I scanned the photo, and eliminated the other people.  The second photo is of Wilt Chamberlain - I didn't like that background, so changed it completely.

In this second photo of Mr. Poitier, notice, too, that the wall has been straightened.

Well, you can get some idea of what can be done with a photo.  In future posts, you will see some of the other options, and there are many.  Photos can be made to look like watercolors, oil paintings, you can look thinner (or heavier), happy or sad, sexy, or prim and proper, and much more - all from the same original photo.  That said, I prefer to do the absolute minimum in post processing.  I much prefer capturing you and your personality just as you are at the moment the shutter clicks.  I believe that whatever post processing is done afterwards, it is the moment the shutter release is pushed that will make or break the photo (I believe some have called that "the decisive moment,"  and I would agree).