Originally posted by biz-engineer For framing / matting photographs, beside black or white, it is recommended to use a mat of a color close to the dominant colors in the photograph. Here in your photo, there is some tones in the background that pair well with the skin tone, without being spread over the whole background area. Good "pairing" or "matching" (I don't know what the appropriate English to describe duality).
Yeah, yellow's not a bad one to pick out to connect front and back of the pic. A danger can be that with very pale skin, a gold reflector (which is effectively what the floor is here) can look really cheesy - very 1980s film. But Claire's a tanned surfer and can get away with it.