Background Detail...

[catwoman]

I hope I put this in the right place!

I'm about to start a new portrait, but this is something I constantly struggle with. How much background detail should one put in? Especially if it is a protrait? For example, in a typical pet portrait... the pet is on a bed with a blanket and a flowered bedspread. Do I render the floral as much as possible or make it a softened blend? Part of me (the lazy part) wants to soften the background so it enhances the focal point. The other part of me (the part that wants to challenge myself) says to try the blankets as they are. I usually spend as much, if not more time on blankets and such as I do the focal point, especially if I get into detail.

Here's a typcial picture of what I'm talking about (meet Miss Nicki, my old but sweet girl.)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/kasdesign/brat.jpg

I am about to do a portrait of Nicki on my bed with a quilted satin blanket tossed on top of the red comforter... do I show the quilting? Do I not? I'll post the picture later with the work started (I saved it in the wrong format... oops)

[Roses]

I think that what you do depends on each individual photo and what you want to do. With this dog photo, I would tone down the pattern and color and darken the dog. The color and busy pattern lead the eye away from the dog, although I do like the colors.

[Gemma]

In this particular portrait I think the pattern in the blanket makes this composition too busy. Personally I would leave the blanket but make the blanket a solid color. The fur on the dog is already a multi color so if you leave the pattern in the blanket they will compete with each other.Gemma

[oozoo]

What a beautiful dog!!

I agree about the backgrounds. You need some detail, but the colors and patterns shouldn't compete with the star. This particular photo would have to be toned down quite a bit. But leaving out too much detail makes the picture flat and less interesting. I would take it on a case by case basis, and try playing with making the details of the background lead the eye back and forth across the subject.