Lallure Photographic wrote:
I tend to only shoot real life sets. Just my style of working.

I'm sure that information was quite useful, I think that's not exactly what he was looking for. To the OP, when you say digital backgrounds, could you elaborate?

E Thompson Photography wrote:

I'm sure that information was quite useful, I think that's not exactly what he was looking for. To the OP, when you say digital backgrounds, could you elaborate?

+1
Please clarify.
Do you mean digital projected (or analog projected) backgrounds?
Digitally created backgrounds used in post production?
Digital photos/video for backgrounds for material shot on green screen?
????

W Thompson Photos wrote:
These are several different backgrounds on a DVD that you load onto your computer to improve boring backgrounds. I found this on "ditigal backgrounds ".I didn't know if anyone has seen /used them, if so are worth the money.

You're basically talking about composition.

I've done tons of it. You have to be very careful when doing it because it is easy to make it look very bad.

The first thing people don't pay attention to is proportions. If done poorly you'll quickly see that something in the background just doesn't make sense size-wise compared to the model. Some chair or bed may be too large or too small based on where the model is.

Light - If the background has light at an angle on it, and the model is not lit exactly the same way, they will stand out and it will look off. That might be okay in some scenarios if done intentionally (you can light them separately) but usually not.

Angles - 2D flat backgrounds come only at one angle. If your model is shot at another angle, they won't "fit" in the picture properly. You should know what background you want to use before shooting so that you can shoot them at the right angle.

shadows - if it's a full body shot you need to think about shadows. I usually shoot on a white wall, (so long as there aren't white clothes) and not only mask the body, but separately mask the shadows and put the real shadows in the picture, with the layer set to overlay and a reduced opacity. It will almost always give realistic shadows in the picture and really help sell the composition.

On the other hand, if all you're doing is headshots or standard seated profile shots and you want something to stick in behind them, you don't have to worry too much about those kinds of things. The only thing you have to worry about is masking, bad masking will make a bad photo, and getting the colors to blend to make them look like they were really taken together.

W Thompson Photos wrote:
Has anyone used ditigal backgrounds? If so are you happy with the results.

Though it is not a part of my body of work here, in my commercial work, I do a lot of compositing (the process to which you're referring). There are a number of things to consider when doing it and those things will affect how good your results are.

Be mindful of how the element you're introducing (usually a person) would affect and be affected by the environment you're putting him/her into. More than just matching lighting, you might have to create highlights and shadows as well, on both the subject and in the environment. If there are reflections that you need to create, realize that only in clean mirrors do you get perfect reflections: all other reflections are distorted based on the surface doing the reflecting and the vantage point. Also, a particular color in a room would give a reflected color cast to objects near it (or if the color if widespread enough, it may affect everything). You have to account for things like that as well.

There's one other thing that takes some people a while to grasp and that is the way edges of native objects in a scene blend/bleed together ever so slightly. It's difficult to describe; similar to a wraparound effect. It's something you have to work at, but if you're diligent it can be learned through simple practice.

Though I don't do any compositing in my erotica, I don't consider myself a "purest" in the sense that I don't see the value of it. It can be a lot of fun and when done well, the results are amazing.