Photoshop tutorial-Extending the background of a photograph

At the first of our new InSight Workshop's I mentioned to the attendees that to create the kind of photos where the subject/model is on a plain black background and positioned to the left or right I don't actually photograph it that way. To get the desired look I actually extend the background in photoshop, so to show how (& why) I do this I've attached a short video tutorial:


This technique can be used to extend any background with a solid colour really quickly. You could also extend a background that has a gradient to it ie goes from dark to light grey or whatever but this would certainly take alot more time and effort to make it look believable. Me? ... I want to work through my editing as quickly as possible so I can spend more time behind the camera.

Enjoy.

*If you'd like to view the video in a larger window, you could visit my YouTube Channel by clicking on this link.