Lighting

[sbug_adam]

What type of lighting set up would you use to eliminate shadow on the backdrop..? Im thinking a softbox wont provide enough light to eliminate all of the shadow. Would a spot be good to use?

hers an example, from the studio lighting thread on fred miranda



Adam

[Jim Victory]

You can use an off camera flash from the side and bounce it off the backdrop. This will eliminate the shadow. You can sync it to your on camera flash

[CJ Max]

It depends on how much lighting you want to add to your gear - lol.

I've got a Broncolor set of monoblocks. I use a C40 with a P70 reflector. It works for small animals, etc., but it's too small a spread to use with people other than for head & shoulders' shots (ideal there). I'd be tempted to go to a softbox, something like 48" or larger if I did something like you're doing.

One of the issues that I've run into using just a 70 degree reflector for backgrounds is that it needs to be positioned very precisely or else the area of illumination will be uneven if done from a stand off to one side as most of mine are. I've got a boom stand that gets the light directly overhead, which is nice, but on location it's not too convenient to use a lot of the time. A more diffuse reflector, like 110-120 degrees would probably work for you though. I'd be tempted to add a foamcore reflector panel on the other side too.

Just a thought.

Cliff.

[Mary]

When doing high key like this try establishing about a 4 stop difference between the light being metered on the subject and the background. It is nice to be able to light the background from both sides, but not necessary.