Attractive backgrounds for medical educational photos

Hi all,

I am not much of a macro photographer so would like to solicit your ideas on unobtrusive, attractive backgrounds that will age well over time, both in reality, and in the resulting photos. The items being photographed will be things related to the practice of medicine, and the resulting photographs/videos will be used in educational presentations for students. Majority of subjects will be things like vials of injectable drugs, bottles of pills, medical disposables (IV catheters, extension lines, drains, etc). Normally I just grab quick iPhone photos taken with as little background distraction as possible, but over time the lack of uniformity in the images has started to bug me, so going forward I’d like to do things using a common type of background so that my presentations have a distinct professional look. I am not a product or stock photographer - these photos are for my own professional use as a medical educator, but I wish to achieve a more polished and professional look.

I like the idea of shooting these things with both a bright/white background and a dark grey or black background to give me more options in terms of use in different projects, and to aid with masking in post. I am generally in a hurry when I take these images, as I sneak them in between patients and procedures - so they cannot involve assembly of complex sets, sets that stay up full-time as for pro product photographers, nor can I take the products home to shoot in a home studio-type setting. So the backgrounds/set materials need to be reasonably compact and portable, so I can store them in my clinic and set them up quickly when the need arises. I’ve seen the various fold-up light tents and I suppose one of those could work, though they generally strike me as el-cheapo disposable products doomed to break and end up in a landfill in a year or so. I tend to favor paying more for quality items, but would consider this approach, particularly with ideas about surfaces the items could sit on and how to blend that well with the background. I know there all all kinds of matte/glossy  surfaces I can buy, but as this isn’t really my area of photography I don’t want to buy 20 things and then have to spend 2 weeks figuring out what looks best. Hence tapping the brain trust for examples of “looks” I can emulate!

Many thanks for your ideas.

I use the inexpensive 3'x5' vinyl backdrops from Amazon for tabletop use. I like the brick or wood with floors, but you can get about any pattern or color you want. I made a portable stand out of PVC tubing, but you can attach them to about anything with tape, clips or magnets. They look out of focus, even stopped down. Rolled up, they don't take up any space for storage.

Thanks for these ideas - I will investigate.

Do you get any glare off the vinyl if you use flash?

LeicaC wrote:

Thanks for these ideas - I will investigate.

Do you get any glare off the vinyl if you use flash?

I don't notice any glare with flash.

It's called vinyl, but it's more like a thin canvas or stiff cloth. There is no gloss to it.

Colored construction paper from the Dollar store will work great.

R,G,B,Y,O and B&W and 6 x white board + 6 x blackboards I assume your clinic has a countertop to set up and away you go.

You can make any BG and if you want better diffusion say for a Harrington rod or other stainless steel medical device, you can make a white cube with the 6 hard boards - or the reverse with blackboards.

If you wanted to show an Epi Pen vs a regular SC or IM syringe, you may want a yellow background for this device so the students sees the proper color they will find in the sample cupboard.

Laying the paper out in a curved 90 will give an attractive dof gradient..

With all the clamps , fasteners and hemostats you have laying around - these sets ups should be a piece of cake.

There are many examples here

https://pixabay.com/images/search/vaccine/

- white works, I like the mixed blue an blue white tones as well