Background Experiments

I am finding what to feature in the background, behind the fence, on my book cover quite tricky. So, I decided to just see what colours/imagery may work, and experiment with a few different images behind it.

The idea of featuring just black and white imagery, and then using red as the colour that pops and highlights important things (e.g. in the logo, the title, the blurb) seems like it may work, So I may experiment further with that. 

My aims for the "background" is to convey the location and the era the book is set in. Because of this, I am also drawn to the very first example - with the typical american sign in its recognisable shape. If I went with this, I'd want the sign to be in a very run down, "desolate" looking area, to really convey the Greasers and the part of town they live in. I don't want to show anything too built up - e.g. a majorly fancy skyline - because it will communicate the wrong ideas about the book.

I could also run with the idea of featuring a sunset, as they are something spoken about and focused on in the book. But, I'm concerned that showing a sunset can soften the mood and will detract from the idea of violence etc that I am trying to portray. 

Another thing I need to consider is the colour of the background and how it works with the grey fencing. The fencing is a grey, and there's a lot of it, and there seems to be a fine line between shades of a colour that do and do not work with grey. I do not want to highlight the grey too much, but at the same time I do not want it to merge with the background too much as it becomes confusing and not very pleasing to look at.