This portrait was shot on a grey background on location. The simple staging of a coffee table gave nice foreground texture.  The light source was a Paul Buff 22 inch beauty dish with a grid.  This bounce flash light modifier is beautifully flattering to faces.

The photographer’s library of backgrounds is a collection of textured surfaces such as tin siding, stucco walls, weather beaten exterior house walls, stone surfaces, etc.  These he shoots specifically for this purpose of blending and layering to build up an artistic backdrop for a studio portrait.  The manipulating of these backgrounds takes place in Photoshop to his creative eye. This background was a composite of 2 backgrounds over the grey studio backdrop.

Read more on our website about backgrounds for portraits.