 Cindy K. Bracken |
Question About Backgrounds Can someone please tell me what to use for a high-key, bright-white, seamless background? I have a white muslin, but I don't like it! Thanks for your help!
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John A. Lind |
Cindy, doing this with material is difficult. It needs to be bleached pure white and kept very flat. You might try using some background kicker lights on it to see if that helps wash it out completely in the photographs. These need not be that expensive. There are inexpensive battery-powered slave lights that can be set on the floor a couple feet in front of the backdrop and aimed upward toward it. You may need to shield the side opposite the backdrop to keep from backlighting the subject with light spill coming directly from the kickers. A simple opaque panel (heavy black construction paper) is a quick fix for this. If the above doesn't work, the best method I've seen used is seamless paper background. Savage makes very wide paper background materials in many colors including bright white for use in studio work. It comes on a roll and your stands/crossbar or whatever you use to hold it up must be able to support the weight of the roll which will be noticeably heavier than muslin draped from a crossbar. There are undoubtedly companies besides Savage that make paper background; they just happen to be the one I know about. Before you invest $$$ in paper stuff, try the kickers first (if you haven't done that already).
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Cindy K. Bracken |
Thanks, John! I will try the lighting suggestion. I appreciate your help. I also recently ordered a roll of white paper. Cindy
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Gregg Vieregge |
Shoot a head and shoulders against a white or off white wall. Put a flash with an inexpensive slave set to a higher setting than you main light behind the subject aimed at the wall and you have a start. This works
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Mikki Cowles |
Frankly, unless you WANT some detail in your background, all you have to do is direct enough light (strobes, slaves, etc.) from each side pointing at your background and you shouldn't have any problem whiting out completely--even if it's wrinkled or not completely white. Just make sure none of the background lights fall onto your subject (shift the lights around and/or use barndoors or cardboard to block any stray light and direct it all to the background.) This has worked for me quite well. I get pure white backgrounds, and have a well lighted subject. Good luck with your experiments, you'll learn what works best for you. Mikki
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Sandra J. Colby |
You can buy a white foam 3-sided display board at most office stores. These are bright white, and stand on their own.
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