17 Portrait Background Ideas With Examples

Many photographers often get into trouble choosing photography backgrounds, especially when trying creative portrait backgrounds. They even get bored searching for portrait background ideas. The 17 best portrait background ideas for photography include Natural portrait background, Solid colored background, Urban photo backgrounds, City roads or buildings, Bokeh or blurred backgrounds, Paper backdrop, Paint portrait background, Textured background, Leaves or flowers background, Sky background, Beach water background, Rainy window, Patterned wallpaper, Brick wall backgrounds, Paint wall backgrounds, Old metal backgrounds, and City murals backgrounds. Here are the creative portrait background Ideas, along with what makes each one special.

1. Natural portrait background: Nature elements like trees, fields, or gardens offer an organic and refreshing feel, ideal for casual or lifestyle portraits.

2. Solid colored background (black or white): Plain black or white backdrops offer simplicity and elegance, helping the subject stand out clearly with no distractions.

3. Urban photo backgrounds: Urban textures such as alleyways, staircases, and industrial zones create a gritty, modern aesthetic for bold portraits.

4. City roads or buildings: Using streets or architectural structures as a backdrop adds a storytelling aspect to urban portrait sessions.

5. Bokeh or blurred backgrounds: A shallow depth of field blurs the background to keep the subject sharp and create a dreamy, professional look.

6. Paper backdrop: Available in many colors and textures, paper backdrops offer a clean and flexible solution for studio photography.

7. Paint portrait background: Hand-painted backdrops provide an artistic and unique look, often used in fine art or editorial portraits.

8. Textured background: Textured surfaces like fabric, walls, or wood panels add depth and interest without overpowering the subject.

9. Leaves or flowers background: Floral and leafy backgrounds introduce a soft, romantic atmosphere, perfect for feminine or seasonal portraits.

10. Sky background: A clear blue sky or dramatic clouds create a powerful and natural background for outdoor portraits.

11. Beach water background: The shore and waves can evoke calmness and serenity, ideal for lifestyle or vacation-themed portraits.

12. Rainy window: Shooting behind a rain-soaked windowpane introduces emotion and depth, often used in moody or cinematic portraits.

13. Patterned wallpaper: Vintage or artistic wallpapers can turn a simple room into a visually rich portrait space.

14. Brick wall backgrounds: Brick walls provide a timeless and raw texture, commonly used in fashion, street, or band photography.

15. Paint wall backgrounds: Painted walls with vibrant or muted tones offer a contemporary backdrop that fits various portrait styles.

16. Old metal backgrounds: Rusty or industrial metal surfaces offer a strong contrast and work well for edgy or creative portraiture.

17. City murals backgrounds: Graffiti and mural art bring color and culture into your portrait, making each shot bold and expressive.

1. Natural Portrait Background

When it comes to creative portrait photography with unique behind scenes, natural backgrounds are considered the best option. It gives photographers numerous portrait background ideas from different perspectives. Here are some tips for making perfect natural portrait backgrounds. 

• Use a botanical garden as the background to depict a green scene in your portrait photoshoots.
• A mountain view behind the scenes of your model is another best option for making creative portrait backgrounds with nature. 
• You can also use any place of natural beauty to make a creative background for portraits. 

2. Solid Colored Background (Black or White)

Solid color portrait backgrounds are one of the best options for making cool portrait backgrounds. You can use various solid colors in your backgrounds for different purposes, like professional and artistic portraits. Here are some tips for you. 

• Use a solid white background for making professional headshots for business, social media, and other platforms. 
• You can also try solid black backgrounds to create some mysterious portraits with a dark behind-scene. 

3. Urban Photo Backgrounds

When you imagine portrait photography backgrounds in urban areas, you will find many options to make your background portrait astonishing with luxurious city scenery. Here are some tips for making amazing urban photo backgrounds. 

• A city shopping mall with enchanting stores and products can be a good portrait background. 
• Another best option for an urban photo background is the delightful night scene of a city behind your model. 
• You can also capture your desired person with an affluent urban restaurant with luxurious food.  

4. City Road or Buildings

Though city roads or buildings are among the urban photography types, you can utilize them to create some creative portrait backgrounds with enchanting views. Here are some tips for making amazing portraits with city roads or building backgrounds. 

• Capture your model when he or she is in the foreground of an urban road crowded with people and cars. 
• Use a high-rise tower or a city building as your portrait photography background. 
• You can also use the city bridge as your portrait background, like London Bridge.

5. Bokeh or Blurred Backgrounds

Adding a bokeh blur to the background for portrait photos helps you make some valid stylistic choices because a bokeh background allows you to catch viewers’ attention on the subject and create a soft romantic atmosphere in the background. Here are some tips for making a bokeh background. 

• Use softly blurred backgrounds for making close-up, emotive, or moody portrait photos. 
• You can also take sharp portraits to emphasize the facial features, movements, and expressions of your model. 

6. Paper Backdrop

Paper backdrops are highly effective for studio portrait backgrounds. There are various bright seamless paper backdrops that help studio photographers achieve interesting backgrounds for portrait images. Here are some tips for you to use paper backdrops in portrait photography. 

• Use seamless white paper for a professional portrait background.
• You can also use different colored paper backdrops to make the behind-the-scenes of your portrait photos more interesting. 

7. Paint Portrait Background

Paint portrait backgrounds are one of the most effective ways to make colorful portrait photos with artistic behind the scenes. It creates a unique attraction to the viewer’s eyes and depicts the photo frame with a prolific look. Here are some tips for using a painted portrait background. 

• Use a studio backdrop painted with beautiful art and designs to bring some artificial look to your portrait photo.
• Another great option to use the painted background for portraiture is to capture shots of wall art, graffiti, or other street art.

8. Textured Background

Textured backdrops are timeless due to their classic look. Photographers often use textured backdrops for making cool, mysterious, or other types of portrait photos. Here are some tips to make textured backgrounds. 

• Use abstract backdrops because it’s perfect for all types of portraits. 
• Try a Knockdown Textured Styled Photography Backdrop.
• Use a matte black paint chalkboard due to its special appearance. 

9. Leaves or Flowers Background

Flowers and leaves are the prettiest way to create an aesthetic look in your portrait backgrounds. Though the leaves and flowers are a part of the natural background, you can also use artificial leaves or flowers as your portrait photo background. Here are some tips for that. 

• Capture shots in the fall season to highlight attractive leaves and backgrounds in your portrait images.
• You can also choose the spring season delighted with numerous flowers to make creative portrait backgrounds. 
• You can also select any place full of leaves and flowers all over the year, bringing an amazing look to your background.

10. Sky Background

The sky itself is visual beauty due to its versatility. It’s a perfect background for portrait photography in winter, spring, summer, or fall. Here are some tips for using a sky background for portrait photography. 

• Take pictures from the peak of a mountain and use the sky as the portrait background. 
• Capture shots in autumn, fall, or spring and exploit the beautiful diversity of the sky. 
• Make photos from a city tower or high-rise building to make the whole sky your portrait background. 

11. Beach Water Background

Who doesn’t love taking photos on the beach having the great seawater behind? Beach water background is one of the most popular trends; most people love capturing photos there. Here are some tips for taking various portraits with beach water backgrounds. 

• Take photos having the flat blue ocean water behind your model. 
• You can also try tropical beach water backgrounds with high waves.

12. Rainy Window

Everybody loves rainy days and takes photos of the windows with raindrops because rainy windows are a fantastic background for portrait photoshoots. Here are some tips for using rainy windows as the background for portrait images. 

• Make double-exposure photography by taking photos of the model through a window.
• If rain is not falling, you can try a spray bottle and add water to bring raindrop effects. 

13. Patterned Wallpaper

Patterned wallpaper is popular for home designs and is also used as a portrait background. You will find different colored and designed patterned wallpaper to use as your portrait background ideas. So, get some tips on it. 

• Try abstract-style patterned backdrops like a horse pattern, floral pattern, or grunge pattern. 
• You can also try a geometric pattern backdrop or poker pattern backdrop. 

14. Brick Wall Backgrounds

The brick wall is a popular backdrop for portrait photography because it helps photographers add a bit of color and texture to their photos. Here are some tips for making brick wall backgrounds. 

• Try a real brick wall with different colors and shapes as your photography background.
• You can also use artificial brick wall backdrops to make portraits in the studio.

15. Paint Wall Backgrounds

Paint walls are famous for portrait painting background ideas. You will find plenty of wall art and painting, from simple to artistic, to make creative portrait backgrounds. So, get some tips on it. 

• Try fresh and single-colored paint walls to make simple and professional portraits. 
• You can also try different colored paint, including dark vibes, to make your portrait more attractive and mysterious. 

16. Old Metal Backgrounds

Old metal backgrounds are a great option for making captivating portrait photoshoots. They can also be used for dark food photography to bring some antique vibes to the background. Here are some tips for using old metal backgrounds.

• Capture shots in front of a wall or door designed and printed with metal elements. 
• You can also use a paper backdrop printed with an old metal design. 

17. City Murals Backgrounds

City mural backgrounds are a famous option for portrait photography. They are also highly used for talk-show or webinar backgrounds. You will find different designs and types in city mural backgrounds. So, get them. 

• Try a colorful urbanistic mural background to make your portrait more gorgeous. 
• Also, you can try street art or graffiti mural backdrops to feature a realistic look.

What are Portrait Backgrounds?

A background that is used as the behind scene of a portrait photograph can be described as a “portrait background.” 

You will find abundant backgrounds mostly used in portrait photography, like natural backgrounds, solid color backgrounds, bokeh backgrounds, and more. Every type of background is particular for different purposes. 

For instance, if you want to take outdoor portrait photos, you can try natural backgrounds like mountains, forests, etc. However, the studio backdrops are perfect for making professional portraits like headshots.

What are Common Backgrounds for Portrait Photography? 

There are lots of backgrounds that are commonly used in portrait photography, like natural backgrounds, blurred backgrounds, and more. Let’s take a look. 

• Natural Background

Natural backgrounds are a type of open place consisting of nature like garden flowers, forest greenery, mountain views, etc. Unlike a studio or artificial backdrop, they are usually out of the box. Most portrait photographers use natural backgrounds as the behind-the-scenes to bring more uniqueness and diversity. It helps them make creative portrait backgrounds.

• Detailed Backgrounds

Detailed backgrounds are such backgrounds that depict the behind-the-scenes of the photo frame in detail. It can be anything like a landscape, skyline, or lake view used in portrait photoshoots to highlight more information in the picture. Photographers prefer detailed portrait backgrounds in travel or street photography.

• Blurred Background

Blurred backgrounds are often used in portrait photography to highlight the subject’s face and body parts in close-up views. For instance, when making outdoor photo sessions, you can blur a tree, mountain, or sea beach scene to contrast with the subject’s well-highlighted face.

• Solid Color Background

Solid color backgrounds work great and give a classic look to family portraits, business portraits, and other types of photos. For this purpose, photographers use black, white, or other solid colors to keep the background fresh and straightforward. 

White Seamless Background

White seamless backdrops are a good option for professional portrait photography like headshots, stock photos, product photos, and other business or corporate portraitures. This background makes the subject more astonishing while keeping the behind-the-scenes simple.

Black Background

Black backgrounds are used to make calm and professional portrait photography. They are also a fantastic option for making artistic portraitures, such as moody and dark portraits in black and white patterns. 

• Textured Background

In the background of portrait photography, texture can highlight a visual depiction of color and shape variations, including the depth of an object’s surface. There are various textures, smooth or rough, made with muslin, cotton, or nylon fabrics.

• Painting Backgrounds

Painting backgrounds are famous for taking portrait shots because of their artistic values. Many types of painting backgrounds are used for portraitures like wall art or graffiti in outdoor photoshoots and studio art paints for indoor photoshoots.

What is the Best Background for Photos?

It depends on what type of photo you want to capture. For instance, a single-color backdrop is the best for professional or business photos, whereas natural backgrounds are the best for casual portraits. 

What Color is Best for the Background?

White is the best color for the backgrounds to keep your image simple. However, you can also use other colors, such as black or blue, as your photography backdrop.

Which Color Backdrop is the Best for a Portrait?

If you want to make professional portrait photos like headshots, the white or black backdrop will be the best option for you.

3 Best Tips for Choosing the Perfect Portrait Backgrounds

You have already learned much about creative portrait backgrounds with innovative ideas and techniques. There are also some facts that you need to consider to make your portrait background more captivating. So, take some advanced ideas on portrait backgrounds.

1. Pay Attention to the Background Color

Color is the first thing to recognize when choosing a background for photography. You should make sure that the desired background color matches well to your subject appearance.

2. Consider the Lighting

Lighting is also another important fact in choosing a perfect background for portrait photos. You need to know using natural and artificial light properly while also having the appropriate knowledge of lighting sources.

3. Avoid an Abundance of Noise

Try to capture shots in a place free from too much noise or population because too much noisy background destroys the main focus point.