Backgrounds for Photographing Art

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Backgrounds for Photographing Art

Seamless Paper

Seamless Paper comes in 53 and 107 inch by 12 yard rolls. Most artists can use the 53 inch size, but make sure there is enough room on either side of your work to leave a visually pleasing amount of space. If need be, you can run two pieces of 53 inch paper together, taping it on the back and remove the vertical line in Photoshop. I suggest that white, black or gray should be your only choices. Never introduce a color (or texture) into the background because it might draw the juror's eyes away from the work in the few seconds they have. You may choose neutral gray as a background color, but from personal experience I feel that it's too dark and can make the photograph of the art appear dead looking. I prefer slate gray as a gray background because the lighter gray brings more life to the artwork. And whatever background you choose, whether solid or graduated, all the pieces should be photographed the same for a uniform body of work.

Seamless paper can be purchased (or ordered) from most decent size camera stores. For mail order, I prefer B&H Photo and Adorama in New York, or Calumet in Chicago.

For those difficult to photograph object that need a jet black background, Calumet sells a Midnight Black Velvetine seamless paper.


white	slate gray	black	neutral gray

Graduated Backgrounds

Graduated Backgrounds seem to be what most artists are currently using. Varitone graduated backgrounds are vinyl and are reusable if you are careful not to scratch them. They come in three sizes, 42x62 inches and 31x43 inches, both sizes with the graduation vertically and 21x15 horizontal paper, which is suitable for photographing smaller items like jewelry.

I recommend three background color combinations. Keeping in mind about not introducing color into the background, black to white (Varitone #9), dark gray to white (Varitone #39) or light gray to white (Varitone # 28). You can also cut the backgrounds down with a scissors or razor to fit the EZCube or Lowel Ego. Varitone #9 is the most popular and the one I use most of the time.

Varitone Graduated backgrounds can be purchased from Photo Tech in Wisconsin.