Paper backdrops are one of the essential tools in studio photography. Do you know which backdrop color is the most practical and versatile to novices in portrait photography? The answer is grey. With different lighting setups, the grey backdrop can create background shades from white, grey to even black! Check out this article to learn about how to achieve different background colors out of a grey backdrop step by step.

Illuminate your subject with a single light source from the front. Since both the subject and the backdrop are illuminated, the color of the paper backdrop will be revealed faithfully.

Illuminate your subject with one studio light and place another studio light which is stronger in brightness behind the subject so that it illuminates only the backdrop. This will result in over exposure for the backdrop, turning it into a white background. Since the grey paper backdrop is a light color, it will get over-exposed easier than a darker color backdrop (such as black).

The principle to create a black background is similar but opposite to that of creating a white background. Illuminate the subject with one studio light from either the front or the side, depending on the effect desired. Just remember to keep the light output low so that the light won’t reach the backdrop. This will result in under exposure and turn the background to black.

In addition to lowering the light intensity of the light source in order to achieve an under-exposed background, you can also alter the direction of light (a side lighting is suggested as this will lower the chance of light hitting the background) or increase the distance between the subject and the background.

The various lighting setups shown above demonstrate how versatile a grey paper backdrop is in giving you three background colors. Let’s start out with a grey paper backdrop if you want to practice portrait shooting but are on a budget!