Product photography tip: Black vs white background

When it comes to product photography, is a crisp white background better or a dramatic black one? With or without reflections, shadows or creative textures? Let’s have a little look at some different options.

Acrylic (Perspex) or mirrors

Acrylic sheets can be fabulous for reflections. It comes in a variety of colors and is lightweight. It’s also sturdy and you can bend it to make a seamless background. Unlike mirrors, which can also be used, they are unlikely to break. Mirrors are terrific, but you need to be careful about WHAT ends up in the reflection. Perspex (or acrylic) is not quite as reflective and is a little more forgiving. You still need to be careful what is being reflected, but you find ways to work around it.

A downside to working with reflective surfaces is they seem to attract dust and debris. Tiny particles seem to appear the second you click the shutter button. So keep some paper towel and window cleaner on hand.

The product photography setup

I used a cute little perfume bottle and did a super simple setup on black and then white acrylic sheets. I used the same camera and my Adaptalux LED Lighting pod to light both scenes. One super Dark and Moody and the other Light and Bright. Sure, it’s a simple experiment, but these are often fun to do.

Black

Final thoughts

There really is no right or wrong here. I did manage to get the angle slightly different on my shots, as well as the focus point. I should have shot them at exactly the same time, not days apart. The black version has deeper reflections but I like the simple minimalism of the white one.

If you are doing product photography for the web, a more light (or a whiter) background would work well, so it would fade into the page. You could use white (or black) project paper and remove the reflections altogether, just having minimal shadows. That would work quite well for product shots as well.

Why not grab some paper (or acrylic) and a small object like a perfume bottle or kids’ toy, and have a play yourself over the holidays? Perhaps you want to add some textures or lighting effects, smoke or even play with a mirror.