background lighting

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missmoloko

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Hi guys

I'm new to the forum, hope someone can help me out.

I have a white background in my studio. Does anyone have any advice on lighting the background.

Cheers
missmoloko
 
2 lights +1 stop
 
thanks for your response.

I have just bought two lights to test. Would you use a snoot or barndoors on the lights for the background. Or just two lights without any attachments. I only have a small space to work with.

cheers
 
Space is always a massive issue when trying to control light, I have a small set up that i use in homes and it is very difficult to get 100% right. If you want to learn simple but very effective lighting, get on a Chris Burfoot seminar, it's a little Elinchrom specific but very good. If you want a bleached even white background, barn doors are your friend.
 
Okay, first question would be what is your subject matter and what are you looking to achieve?

If a high key portrait then I would be aiming some additional studio lighting to the background to ensure it stays white. If you are looking at doing normal portraits it can be more interesting to have something within the background image like some oof shadows, these can be made by creating gobos out of various materials and placing them between a light source and the background, the nearer the background the sharper they will appear (old Venetian blinds are good for this, you can get the at a car boot sale for next to nothing).

if you are intending doing still life or product photography then this is a whole subject on it's own, but I would start with one light aimed from the top or bottom of the background to give you a gradual falling off of light away from the source which creates a nice graduated effect.

Obviously colour filters can be used, but you may find they become a bit light (ie a red light will appear pink on a white background), if you want saturated colours it is best to use a dark background (i.e. black).

Most professional photographers will paint their studios black, this is because it prevents stray light affecting the final images and you can place the light where you want it without trying to block unwanted stray light with baffles and screens. White backgrounds can offer similar problems.

All I can really suggest, is practise, practise, practise. Easier and cheaper to do now with digital cameras as it is like having an infinitesimal supply of Polaroid’s.
 
2 Lights with reflectors, and possibly brollies depending on how it looks. if you dont use anything the light will go everywhere and probably interfere with the person, also try to keep a bit of distance between the subject and background, if you do a search, gary edwards posted some tutorials on studio lighting i think.
 
Can I just add to what I said before and that is to start simple, the more equipment you have the harder it is to understand when its not working for you. When trying new ideas i start with 1 light and build up to see what changes are made.
 
I have a white vinyl background and want it to look white not an offish white when taking portraits. I have just bought two lights to light it. Tried them without anything attached and yes they to interfere with the subject. Just wondering whether I should by a reflector or barndoors.
 
Painting the walls black is only done in very small studios as otherwise the light fall off makes it unnecessary

I use softboxes on the background as it's a bit more even than just barn doors, but is space is an issue barns will work fine

DD
 
does diddy dave have any advice on flash brackets.

I have shot a few weddings using the stroboframe pro t bracket but find it a bit bulky and if i put it over my shoulder it tends to flop about which annoys me.

missmoloko
 
missmoloko said:
does diddy dave have any advice on flash brackets.

I have shot a few weddings using the stroboframe pro t bracket but find it a bit bulky and if i put it over my shoulder it tends to flop about which annoys me.

missmoloko
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Didn't I just suggest a Stroboframe on another thread ???:thinking:

Flash brackets are only about separating the flash from the camera for 'red eye' and modelling, and better ones to correct for the 'wrong' position of the flash when turned to portrait mode

Better still is to use the flash with a long sync cord but handheld, this takes longer and is a pain in t'ass as to what to do with the flash between shots (unless you have big handy pockets of a front swung camera bag - neither of which I like)

Even posher - get an assistant to hold it and remote trigger it with Skyports or some such (not done that myself as yet, but considering it)

Up to you to decide on the best/easiest in your situation

HTH

:shrug:

DD
 
Take exposure settings from your subject, point your meter to the front lights and take a reading, you would normally try to get about f8 here. Then put your meter anywhere on the background, the reading would need to be +1 stop from your subjects exposure reading, i.e f8 (in my example) +1 stop = f11

As someone already said you need to get the subject as far away as is possible from the background to ovoid overspill of light.
 
Andybilly said:
As someone already said you need to get the subject as far away as is possible from the background to ovoid overspill of light.
Click to expand...

Unless of course you are also using that 'spill' as part of the overall lighting effect you want

Spill is not necessarily 'bad'

(y)

DD
 
i tryed a baby shot with white background but i keep getting a pinkish hase i used a softbox and unbrella on my interfit lights should i be using a gray card for the white balance ?
 
Do you measure the subjects face.. pointing back to the camera...or pointing back to the light? I have heard both. :shrug:
 
Janice said:
Do you measure the subjects face.. pointing back to the camera...or pointing back to the light? I have heard both. :shrug:
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Janice really !!!! :eek:

How long have you been doing this?

Think about it dear - it's pretty obvious (okay, it might not be for backlit subjects, but you're lighting the subject!!!)

:D

DD
 
derrycity said:
i tryed a baby shot with white background but i keep getting a pinkish hase i used a softbox and unbrella on my interfit lights should i be using a gray card for the white balance ?
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Most likely a white balance thing (assuming baby is a bit pink too?)

So anything to correct is good, Grey Card, Expodisc, even just mucking about in your RAW converter later

DD
 
DiddyDave said:
Janice really !!!! :eek:

How long have you been doing this?

Think about it dear - it's pretty obvious (okay, it might not be for backlit subjects, but you're lighting the subject!!!)

:D

DD
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Well I have only done 3 portrait shoots to be honest!

I would point the light meter from their face back at the camera... but I have heard people say to point it towards the light which didnt sound right to me.

Just found this on Photocamel forum after a search: "In using the meter, place it at your subject's location using the "incident dome" turned toward the main light " see what I mean..........when I read things like that I thought I was doing wrong with the dome up for incident metering and it towards the camera
 
Janice said:
Well I have only done 3 portrait shoots to be honest!

I would point the light meter from their face back at the camera... but I have heard people say to point it towards the light which didnt sound right to me.
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:shake::shake::shake:

Point it at the light source then the highlights are right - imagine you are side-lighting the face, pointing it at the light 90 degrees to the camera would ensure that side was lit properly

Pointing it back to the camera would mean SOME of the light was taken into account, as would the possible lack of any other light going onto the face... result... massively blown side of face !!!

Even when the light source is in front (say 45 degrees to one side and up 45 degrees in classic style), you still point at the light source

Make sense ?????

:shrug:

DD
 
Is a light meter a must in doing portraits. What sort of prices are they? Are the particular ones to get and ones not to get?
 
mattchewone said:
Is a light meter a must in doing portraits.
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Nope - not these days

Although I have one now for assessing lighting ratios more easily when using multiple lights, I didn't bother for the first 3 years of having a studio

Just switched my blinkies on and worked from that - God I love digital !!!

:):):)

DD
 
You see, when you do a google search you get varying instructions..like this one which tells you to point at the camera. That is why I didnt know which to follow.

"All you need to do is hold the meter in an area that's getting the same kind of light that the subject is getting (it doesn't have to be right NEXT to the subject as long as the lighting is the same.) Then point the ping-pong ball toward the angle that would be facing the camera, take a reading, and you're good to go. It's almost completely foolproof".

I will take YOUR advice, Dave and not google it again!! :D
 
Janice said:
You see, when you do a google search you get varying instructions..like this one which tells you to point at the camera. That is why I didnt know which to follow.

"All you need to do is hold the meter in an area that's getting the same kind of light that the subject is getting (it doesn't have to be right NEXT to the subject as long as the lighting is the same.) Then point the ping-pong ball toward the angle that would be facing the camera, take a reading, and you're good to go. It's almost completely foolproof".

I will take YOUR advice, Dave and not google it again!! :D
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Why not just try it Janice ???

Your Googled bit will give the same reading, near as damn it, IF the light source is close to the same direction as the camera - the further away from that axis the less accurate it'd be

At 90 degrees (side on to the subject who's looking at you) 'my' way would give a nicely lit side of face with no blown highlights, depending on how much lights is reflected from the other side, the unlit side of their face could be totally black - so perfect on the lit side and let the other do whatever

If you pointed the meter back towards the camera, then only half of it would be lit by the light source, so it'd try to average the very light and very dark, hence the lit face would be blown and there'd be something in the darker side

Even with an outdoor backlit subject, it's more common to meter to the light source (i.e. away from the camera) and use fill-flash or a reflector to balance it. Metering light from the camera position would give an okay face, but all hair/shoulders/ears even could be so blown as to ruin the shot

Hope that makes sense - but try it is the best answer really

(y)

DD
 
DiddyDave said:
Nope - not these days

Although I have one now for assessing lighting ratios more easily when using multiple lights, I didn't bother for the first 3 years of having a studio

Just switched my blinkies on and worked from that - God I love digital !!!

:):):)

DD
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Blinkies? Whats the best way to meter with digital? Set to AV or TV and let it work out the correct exposure?
 
mattchewone said:
Blinkies? Whats the best way to meter with digital? Set to AV or TV and let it work out the correct exposure?
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In the studio always manual, otherwise you have no control, i.e. if you change the power on your lights the camera will adjust itself to compensate so you MUST control the cameras exposure manually.
 
mattchewone said:
Blinkies? Whats the best way to meter with digital? Set to AV or TV and let it work out the correct exposure?
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Blinkies are those flashing highlights in your lcd screen that show where the highlights are blown out by flashing black. (y)
 
Janice said:
Blinkies are those flashing highlights in your lcd screen that show where the highlights are blown out by flashing black. (y)
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I dont believe i have this, if i do never seen it before and not sure how to use it lol.

So manual exposure for studio work, how do i meter? How do i no what to set the exposure to?
 
mattchewone said:
I dont believe i have this, if i do never seen it before and not sure how to use it lol.

So manual exposure for studio work, how do i meter? How do i no what to set the exposure to?
Click to expand...



Although I know sod-all about the 400D - I can't believe it doesn't show blown highlights as flashing on the lcd - look harder at the manual

IT'S A DIGITAL CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Set your flash sync speed, f4 - if the histogram or blinkies tell you it's overexposed, set f5.6, f8, f11 until it's right = job done

Hence, then wonderful world of digital

DD
 
Ill read harder in the manual if not ill be back! Thanks so much DD

( I think i luv you lol ) :)
 
mattchewone said:
( I think i luv you lol ) :)
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I'm sure many do :D

But 'matt' isn't usually their first name :eek:

:LOL:

Seriously, 'blinkies' are a fab tool for assessing exposure & your camera WILL have them somewhere, go find and expose until there are either no or a tiny few blinkies and you've cracked it

(y)

DD
 
Is blinkies the actually term to look for in the manual lol?

I have a yellowy/green dot in the right hand corner of the viewfinder that blinks but not sure why. When its blinking i cannot take the picture unless i go MF.
 
I think the name for it in the menu is "enable highlight alert" or something.

You will see it when you REVIEW a picture that has already been taken, all the blocks of white sky for instance will be flashing black.. so you can take the photo again with different settings so as not to over-expose the next time.
 
Ill review the Manual then! Never seen or heard of it before sounds interesting. Thanks so much!
 
The 400D does have blinkies.... just press the 'disp' button on the top left of the display and it'll rotate round the different display options of the picture.... you'll soon see the smaller picture with all the info at the side and any blinkies blinking away!!
 
I see the blinkies i have found it! YAY!!

Thanks for the help guys/gals.

Anyhelp on metering, the best mode and quickest way of metering on the spot using the camera?
 
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