One colour, chosen exactly
A flat colour is the least distracting background there is, and the easiest to keep consistent across a set of photos — a team page, a product range, a series of thumbnails. Pick it once and every photo gets exactly the same value.
Colours here are held the way the rest of this site holds them, in a perceptual colour space, and written to the file as ordinary sRGB. What you pick on screen is what the file contains.
Picking a colour that flatters the subject
A background colour changes how the subject reads. These pairings hold for most photos taken indoors.
| Subject | Backgrounds that work | Backgrounds that fight it |
|---|---|---|
| Warm skin, warm light | Warm grey, sand, muted teal | Saturated green, cold blue |
| Dark clothing | Mid grey, light colours | Black |
| White product | Light grey, pale colours with a shadow | Pure white without a shadow |
Questions people ask
- How do I use an exact brand colour?
- Open Colour and type the hex value from the brand guide into the field next to the picker. The background is filled with exactly that value.
- Red, black or grey — which works best?
- Grey is the most forgiving: it hides stray hair and casts no colour on the subject. Black is dramatic but shows every light-coloured hair. Saturated red and green make skin look off unless the subject is lit to match.
- Can I get a gradient instead of a flat colour?
- Yes. Choose Made background for ramps and lit fields, or open the background maker to build one in your own colours.
Other background jobs
- White backgroundPure 255 white behind the subject, for listings, profiles and forms.
- Blue backgroundLight form blue, royal blue or any shade behind a portrait.
- Change backgroundThe subject on a colour, a blur, your own picture or a drawn background.
- Solid colourOne colour at a stated pixel size. The smallest file here.