Judging from images I’ve seen on some of the model sites (Model Mayhem, One Model Place, and others), a hot item for pinup style photography is a colored, dimensional shape on a white background. The subject, who has been separated from her original background, is then layered onto the new background. Here are a couple of easy ways to make them.

Use your favorite method to separate the subject from the background. I use greenscreen and Ultimatte’s AdvantEdge Photoshop plugin, but there are many other programs out there. Many are available as free downloads, fully featured, that will save images with a watermark unless you buy a license. This is a great way to test different approaches to a complicated problem. When you find “The One,” buy it and have fun.

Once your subject is separated, all you will see on your screen is a subject against a transparent background.

Many, if not most, of the programs work in Layers, which means you will see the original image along with the transformed image on the Layers Palette. Select the original layer, and use Edit>Fill to fill it with pure white. Use the Elliptical Marquee and create an oval or a perfect circle. You can hide the transformed layer if that helps you visualize the final effect, but you’ll want to see the transformed layer to correctly position the shape. Select a color to fill the background (I selected a tone from her lipstick). If you create a form, “as is,” it will have a sharp edge.

I usually prefer a soft edge, and use Select>Feather to find a feathered edge that I like. This image was feathered by 25 pixels.

No matter how you do it, simply filling the form with a color produces a very flat look. To add dimension, use the Burn tool (about the only thing it’s good for). Use a soft-edged brush, set the tool to burn Midtones at 10%, use the Brush tool, and simply paint around the edge until you get the gradation you want. Now the background has more of a three dimensional look.

Once the original layer is seen again, the effect of the trick becomes clear; goofy, kitchy, and fun.

Another option is to create a background layer with color, any way you like it, then frame it and refill it with white, black, or another color.

Select the Background layer and the Rectangular Marquee tool. Create a box in the dimensions you wish, feather the selection (100 pixels for this one), and fill with your color of choice. If you’d rather have the outside of the selection filled, select Inverse before filling with color.

You can create some interesting background shapes by using the Polygonal Lasso, too.