diff --git a/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImage.java b/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImage.java
index c6ade5a6d..8392a5a9a 100644
--- a/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImage.java
+++ b/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImage.java
@@ -100,6 +100,17 @@ public void setGLSurfaceView(final GLSurfaceView view) {
         mGlSurfaceView.requestRender();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Sets the background color
+     *
+     * @param red red color value
+     * @param green green color value
+     * @param blue red color value
+     */
+    public void setBackgroundColor(float red, float green, float blue) {
+        mRenderer.setBackgroundColor(red, green, blue);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Request the preview to be rendered again.
      */
diff --git a/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImageRenderer.java b/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImageRenderer.java
index fd26a5f32..691550bde 100644
--- a/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImageRenderer.java
+++ b/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImageRenderer.java
@@ -73,6 +73,10 @@ public class GPUImageRenderer implements Renderer, PreviewCallback {
     private boolean mFlipVertical;
     private GPUImage.ScaleType mScaleType = GPUImage.ScaleType.CENTER_CROP;
 
+    private float mBackgroundRed = 0;
+    private float mBackgroundGreen = 0;
+    private float mBackgroundBlue = 0;
+
     public GPUImageRenderer(final GPUImageFilter filter) {
         mFilter = filter;
         mRunOnDraw = new LinkedList<Runnable>();
@@ -91,10 +95,8 @@ public GPUImageRenderer(final GPUImageFilter filter) {
 
     @Override
     public void onSurfaceCreated(final GL10 unused, final EGLConfig config) {
-        GLES20.glDisable(GL10.GL_DITHER);
-        GLES20.glClearColor(0,0,0,0);
-        GLES20.glEnable(GL10.GL_CULL_FACE);
-        GLES20.glEnable(GL10.GL_DEPTH_TEST);
+        GLES20.glClearColor(mBackgroundRed, mBackgroundGreen, mBackgroundBlue, 1);
+        GLES20.glDisable(GLES20.GL_DEPTH_TEST);
         mFilter.init();
     }
 
@@ -122,6 +124,19 @@ public void onDrawFrame(final GL10 gl) {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Sets the background color
+     *
+     * @param red red color value
+     * @param green green color value
+     * @param blue red color value
+     */
+    public void setBackgroundColor(float red, float green, float blue) {
+        mBackgroundRed = red;
+        mBackgroundGreen = green;
+        mBackgroundBlue = blue;
+    }
+
     private void runAll(Queue<Runnable> queue) {
         synchronized (queue) {
             while (!queue.isEmpty()) {
diff --git a/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImageView.java b/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImageView.java
index 05b15fcf7..cc6a02472 100644
--- a/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImageView.java
+++ b/library/src/jp/co/cyberagent/android/gpuimage/GPUImageView.java
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@
 import android.content.Context;
 import android.graphics.Bitmap;
 import android.graphics.Color;
+import android.graphics.drawable.ColorDrawable;
+import android.graphics.drawable.Drawable;
 import android.media.MediaScannerConnection;
-import android.graphics.PixelFormat;
 import android.net.Uri;
 import android.opengl.GLES20;
 import android.opengl.GLSurfaceView;
@@ -57,9 +58,6 @@ public GPUImageView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
 
     private void init(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
         mGLSurfaceView = new GPUImageGLSurfaceView(context, attrs);
-        mGLSurfaceView.setZOrderOnTop(true);
-        mGLSurfaceView.setEGLConfigChooser(8, 8, 8, 8, 16, 0);
-        mGLSurfaceView.getHolder().setFormat(PixelFormat.TRANSPARENT);
         addView(mGLSurfaceView);
         mGPUImage = new GPUImage(getContext());
         mGPUImage.setGLSurfaceView(mGLSurfaceView);
@@ -98,6 +96,17 @@ public GPUImage getGPUImage() {
         return mGPUImage;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Sets the background color
+     *
+     * @param red red color value
+     * @param green green color value
+     * @param blue red color value
+     */
+    public void setBackgroundColor(float red, float green, float blue) {
+        mGPUImage.setBackgroundColor(red, green, blue);
+    }
+
     // TODO Should be an xml attribute. But then GPUImage can not be distributed as .jar anymore.
     public void setRatio(float ratio) {
         mRatio = ratio;