I need advice

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loaf

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Hi, recently I have entered into a venture that I am not sure about. I have started to freelance with a friend of the family taking portraits for people in there homes. I take the photographs and she prints them onto canvases. She does a great job and the printing is fantastic but a am in serious doubts of my work.

I graduated from Uni with a 2:1 hons degree in photography. But the work I did for Uni was more documentary based and I really enjoyed the critical side to it. I never really went in the studio and now I am struggling. I like the pictures I take, which are mainly kiddie portraits but I can not get the lighting right. The sitters are always lit o.k but the back ground looks grey and horrible when it is supposed to be white. I am using two soft boxes one mainly on the person and the other trying to light the person and the back ground which doesn't really work. Do I need another light? Or is it some thing else? Please help? I feel like I should know this and a bit ashamed that I don't

Loaf
 
Try using one of the lights as a main and the other as a backlight, use a reflector to bring light in on the other side of the main light.
 
If your background is white, take the softbox off one of the lights and point that at the background at about half the power of the main light.

Make sure the models are not too close to the background.

Shoot in raw so that you can adjust everything in PS.
 
It's really hard some times to keep the models away from the back grounds, as I am setting up in there living rooms and there not always that big. Would any thing else help in more tight situations?
 
If you keep in mind that the background and the subject should be lit separately. If you don't, then even though the background is White, the further away the subject is from the background the darker Grey colour it will look.

I always set my lights up separately and take meter readings on the background first. You are aiming to get the 'highlights' blinking. Now set up the subject - I always use a couple of teddies to practice until I am happy - at least 4 feet away from the background. My set up usually works when the lights lighting the background are at least half a stop brighter than the subject. Be careful that the light from the background does not bleed into the back of the subject too much.

A bit hurried, but I hope that helped.
 
If you are looking to do high key lighting in a confined space you might like to try the Lastolite hilight. A white background that you can fire a light into. I've tried one a couple of times and it seems to work OK although it is tricky to pack away!
 
Gilly B said:
If you keep in mind that the background and the subject should be lit separately. If you don't, then even though the background is White, the further away the subject is from the background the darker Grey colour it will look.
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Yep! It's all about understanding your lightmeter.

Light your bg seperately (if you can) and meter the subject and then the bg. If the light falling on the bg is 2 stops more then it will appear white. Expose for your subject. This works with film and the principle is the same even with digital.
 
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