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10/17/2012 07:42:21 AM · #1 |
Hey all
I'm pretty new to photography, but have definatley caught the bug! I do however have lots and lots of questions I ask myself when I think of an image, one of which is:
- I recently wanted to get my subject illuminated, but have a completely uniform dark background behind. I don't know how to do this!
I was shooting indoors in a spare bedroom, and decided to turn the lights off and direct a source of light onto the front of the subject. The problem was, that any correct exposure of the subject would also expose the wall behind (which was a couple of meters behind the subject). I thought that maybe the lightsource was innappropriate so tried lighting a candle just in front of the subject and below the field of view... but still got an illuminated wall behind!
So, the question is... How do I light my subject whilst maintaining completely dark (or any uniform colour for that matter) negative space behind?
I use Lightroom and there's no drawn function to simply draw black around the image.
Thanks in advance,
Al |
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10/17/2012 07:55:48 AM · #2 |
Two ways, you can do it in post and cut out your subject but that is a pain and you only have LR, you could paint the exposure down with an adjustment brush but still not easy to do well.
So separate your subject from the background with a good distance, light your subject with off camera flash and underexpose the ambient light, you will want a flash pointing at the back of your subject as well to provide separation. Then in LR you can adjust the blacks to kill any thing that may have a little light in the background. |
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10/17/2012 07:58:25 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by Shifty_Powers:
How do I light my subject whilst maintaining completely dark (or any uniform colour for that matter) negative space behind?
I use Lightroom and there's no drawn function to simply draw black around the image.
Thanks in advance,
Al |
To make the background black for indoor shots, your best bet is to actually have a black background. To do this on the cheap, I would stop at the store and buy a large queen size or larger flat sheet that is black. Iron it flat and hang it from the wall. Have your subject a few feet away from the background and the lights in front of the subject.
With regard to exposure, you will want to expose the spot meter your subject so it is correctly exposed and the dark/black background will work for you. My portfolio is littered with images using this very approach - and i am not very good at portraits....
Message edited by author 2012-10-17 07:59:02. |
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10/17/2012 08:05:26 AM · #4 |
AJ,
My guess is the primary issue that was causing you problem is the lack of sufficient distance between your subject and the back wall. A couple of feet of seperation is not enough to light the subject without the source having some effect on the wall as well. If you can get 8 to 10 of distance behind the subject your results should improve.
If you don't have enough room you could hang a black cloth on the wall.
Mark
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10/17/2012 08:12:27 AM · #5 |
You're fighting two battles here.
First- the relative reflectivity of your wall. It may reflect light very efficiently, or it may not. Gloss reflects more than matte. The least reflective and easily obtainable fabric you can get on the cheap is some black velvet from your local fabric store. That stuff really swallows light.
Next, you need to consider your light to subject distance in relation to your wall to light distance, and then read up on how the inverse square law works.. Your light will lose 3/4 of its power for every time the distance to light source doubles (so you lose two stops). So you can do two things- get your light REALLY close to your subject and set exposure for that, or you can get your subject very far from your wall, or combine the two. |
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10/17/2012 08:16:14 AM · #6 |
I'm still trying to figure out flash and lighting, but I think another part is light falloff.
Here's an article:
Light falloff
here's another
edited to add: scooped by spiritualspatula!
Message edited by author 2012-10-17 08:16:47.
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10/17/2012 08:29:22 AM · #7 |
Hey
All very very helpful, and much appreciated.
Cheers
Al |
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10/17/2012 08:32:38 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by Shifty_Powers:
Hey
All very very helpful, and much appreciated.
Cheers
Al |
Make sure you show us your experiments! I like to learn from others adventures. :)
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