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12/21/2005 09:04:06 PM · #1 |
| My bigest disappointment with my photos are that i see the way i want them to be in my head, but when i try to do it i just cant, largley im limited by my equipment, Im using a p&s and have no extra lights i try to use natural light as much as i can but the leads to other problems like being restricted to where the windows are to shoot and not having control. I got some good ideas on lighting on a recnt thread but the bigest problem im seeing at the moment is getting my background to be just that background. im seeing too much detail on the material that im using as a back drop or the shadows are falling on it making my shots look odd. any advice on how to make the backdrop fade into the background and not have it trying to be a main character in the shots? |
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12/21/2005 09:10:15 PM · #2 |
Get the backdop BACK away from your subject. For a person 5 foot distance from the subject to the BG is common. This allows you to light them seperately and shadows don't fall on them.
Your distance to the subject matters too. The more telephoto at a given aperture, the less DOF, do the more the BG goes soft focus. The closer you are to the subject, the more the BG will be in softfocus.
I was close to the subject for these shots and you can see the BG is nicely out of focus.
 
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12/21/2005 09:15:02 PM · #3 |
| I've had that trouble too. I've been trying to keep my backgrounds far away as possible from the subject. My white often comes out grey though and I whiten it in editing. For black I shoot at night outside with just side-lighting or top, just trying to keep light off the background. Also if you use a shallower dof the backgrounds won't show so much detail. For p&s that means adjusting the macro/landscape setting. |
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12/21/2005 10:00:45 PM · #4 |
To brighten a white backround, try using a secondary lamp (any lamp, I use a worklight) to light the backround so that it is more strongly lit than the subject, if it blows out the highlights who cares? it is supposed to be a blank.
Another cheap studio trick is to buy some cheap used flash units, I have a coulple of old vivitars, which would fry any digital camera if you mounted them, so they are very cheap. I mount them of a noname optical slave -$15 each. They are adjustable only by placment, but by using aluminum foil and distance to modify their output they can do most anything I can think of. |
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12/22/2005 07:35:02 AM · #5 |
Nighttrain ... good thread, lots better than some of the last 48hrs :)
Background
Your've already had the distance suggestion, that works. The other is to use a wider aperture to shorten your depth of field. With the background distanced from your subject you can then for example use f2.8 for extreme shallow DOF. All of the lower paerture numbers will shorten the depth of focus, just choose the one that just focusses on your subject. You'll get the lost-background effect.
Lighting
You already have studio lights all over your house. You just don't know it yet :) The best setup we use in our 'studio' (old table in the spare room) is to shoot at night and use table lamps, bedside lamps and/or the torch(es). Because you have a tripod, you can use long exposures when you don't have much light available and can get some really stunning effects. Daylight is ok if you want soft diffused light on your subject and it doesn't shine directly on your subject.
Have fun,
Brett
Message edited by author 2005-12-22 07:37:14. |
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04/14/2006 02:28:49 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by nlghttrain:
im seeing too much detail on the material that im using as a back drop or the shadows are falling on it making my shots look odd. any advice on how to make the backdrop fade into the background and not have it trying to be a main character in the shots? |
You can set your camera on portrait which will put the subject in focus and the background at a blure. you can also do it manualy. |
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