You could do what I would do (look at my WIP head mod) take a picture up close like that and cut the head out and paste on a white background. Use a gradient tool and make it brown or whatever your desired color is for the background
I make mine by importing the head and body I want into Max, manipulate it to stand as I want it, get a good image of the head and shoulders, import that image into PhotoShop, cut the black background out, and make a new layer with a black to white gradient, which I play ith to get the best result.
