Digital backgrounds
for photography
Backgrounds for portrait, family and maternity sessions, chosen the way a photographer would: by where the light falls, how the subject poses and how many people are in the frame.
Painted canvases and studio walls
12 scenes in the portrait collection are quiet studio backgrounds: painted canvas looks in warm, cool, low-key and high-key tones, plaster and panelled walls, and a seamless paper sweep.
Choose by light first
Light is what gives a composite away. Each scene page lists two things: the direction the light comes from (left, right, front, above, or soft from all round) and its colour (warm, neutral or cool). In the library today, 62 scenes are warm, 20 neutral and 20 cool.
- Side-lit scenes suit Rembrandt and loop lighting. Put your key light on the same side as the scene's window or lamp.
- Front and soft scenes suit clamshell and window-light portraits, and are the most forgiving for beginners.
- Light from above, as on a stage or under a chandelier, matches a key set high with a little top light on the hair.
- Colour: shoot at a neutral white balance and warm or cool the subject in the edit, rather than fighting a strong gel colour later.
Then by pose and camera height
All 102 scenes are drawn from eye level. Shoot standing adults at about chest to eye height, and come down to the subject's eye level for seated children. A camera that is much lower or higher than the scene makes people look too tall or too short.
51 scenes work for seated subjects, with a sofa, bench, chair, rug or clear floor at a believable height. Photograph your subject on a seat of similar height, mask the real seat away, and paint the shadow where they touch the seat in the scene.
Room for a family
37 scenes fit four or more people. The Christmas Family rooms are built for groups, and these calmer scenes work all year:
Maternity sessions
Soft fabrics, arches and warm side light that flatter a standing or seated maternity pose.
Files and workflow
Every scene comes as landscape 2880 x 1920, portrait 1920 x 2880 and square 2880 x 2880 pixels, cut from one native 2880px master and never upscaled. The landscape file prints at about 9.6 x 6.4 in at 300 ppi; backgrounds can sit a little softer than the subject, as a real background would. More in resolution and print sizes.
New to compositing? Start with how to use digital backdrops, then the Photoshop guide. Try any scene free at 1280px; the clean files come with lifetime access.
Questions from photographers
Will clients be able to tell it is a composite?
Not if the light, camera height and shadow match. Choose a scene lit from the same side as your subject, shoot at eye level, and add a soft contact shadow. The Photoshop guide walks through it.
Do you have overhead newborn backgrounds?
Not yet. Every scene in the library today is drawn at eye level, for standing or seated subjects. Overhead nest and blanket scenes need their own camera angle, and we will only add them as purpose-built scenes.
Can I sell prints and digital files made with these backgrounds?
Yes. Client photos, prints and albums are allowed under the licence. You may not sell or share the background files themselves.
Are the backgrounds photographs of real places?
No. They are AI-generated original scenes, designed for compositing and reviewed by a person before publishing. That is why there are no people, text or logos in them.