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portraits with blank backgrounds

B

bottleneck

pfm Member
hi,

Just wondered somethign from you learned gents.

I notice some people have portrait shots with a white or black background (or another colour).

It can look really cool.

Is there an easy way to do this?


Sorry, am very new to photography and am learning basics.

Cheers
 
bottleneck said:
hi,
Just wondered somethign from you learned gents.
I notice some people have portrait shots with a white or black background (or another colour).
It can look really cool.
Is there an easy way to do this?
Click to expand...

do a search on seamless paper. you'll need a stand for the roll too.


vuk.

p.s. you can also take your model outside and look for a wall of the right color.
 
joel said:
Photoshop.
Click to expand...

Very very hard to get the bits around the person to look right.. It either looks too harsh, with sharp edges and a lack of detail or the original not quite white background is visible.

The 'right' way to do it is with a paper background, a couple of lights, one for the subject and another to overexpose the background.. Setup the first light so the subject appear nice in the pictures, then setup the second light to only illuminate the background, and to be 1-2 stops brighter than the subjects illumination.

vuk said:
do a search on seamless paper. you'll need a stand for the roll too.

vuk.

p.s. you can also take your model outside and look for a wall of the right color.
Click to expand...

You can shoot a portrait with a black background against white paper.... By simply ensuring your flash/light illuminates the subject and NOT the background.. The background will come out underexposed, and if ambient light is low enough then the background will be black.


What equipment do you have? The pop up flash is not really suitable for this task as its a very direct light source..
For a background you can get your hands on a lump of suitable cloth/paper for not a lot, and with suitable clips can attach it to a curtain rail (I use the rail above the doors into my conservatory)..

If you cannot afford an off camera flash (either studio or portable) then head outside around an hour or so before sunset, find a suitable backdrop (walls covered in plants are good), get your subject to stand 6 feet or so away from it, use a narrow(ish) DOF to seperate them from the background by making the background appear blurred and use the on camera flash or a reflector (large bit of card covered in silver foil works well) for a spot of fill light and have a play. Cheap and very effective. :)

Have a read of the strobist (http://strobist.blogspot.com/) if you want to start learning to use off camera flash... VERY good site!

:)

Sam
 
I agree with all of the above - additional thought on this though is that you can render almost any low contrast background pretty invisible by carefully limiting your depth of field and either heavily illuminating the model or background depending on the effect you want. Even a plain living room wall can work OK for a head shot. Personally I prefer portraits in context.
 
The typical grey sky we get in the UK July thru June each year can give a good neutral backdrop especially if you on a hill or top of a building, a touch of flash lightens the face and removes shadows around the eyes
 
you should never use a flash, unless you are doing forensic photography, so that removes some of the options presented here.

vuk.
 
vuk said:
you should never use a flash, unless you are doing forensic photography, so that removes some of the options presented here.

vuk.
Click to expand...

In an ideal world maybe, but sensible use of off camera flash can add to the photo, and gives the photographer more control over the outcome rather than relying on unreliable and ever changing natural light..
 
sam_cat said:
In an ideal world maybe, but sensible use of off camera flash can add to the photo, and gives the photographer more control over the outcome rather than relying on unreliable and ever changing natural light..
Click to expand...

In winter in the UK we get about 7 hours of light from the sun per day and 99% of published photos use some kind of artificial light especially if shot indoors in winter.
 
cliffpatte said:
In winter in the UK we get about 7 hours of light from the sun 99% of published photos use some kind of artificial light.
Click to expand...

Yup..

A real challenge is using artificial light in such a way that it looks like natural light...

Sam
 
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