Issue with haze in studio portraits

Newbie here. I am having an issue in my studio with haze appearing on the top right of some portraits. I am using a canon 70d, no polarising filter, using a lens hood (to try to remove). I am using two 600 flash light boxes adjacent to me and two back light flashes behind and to the side of the subjects. Any ideas why and how to fix? Thanks, James

 

 

PS, I'm pretty sure the haze is not spill from the backlight. It is not consistent.

How does the haze vary from shot to shot, if it is not consistent? Does anything else vary as well then, like the distance from your subject(s) to your background or their colour?

 

May I ask how you have metered the background lights, do you use a flashmeter or the camera’s histogram/rear display?

 

Are your background lights really set to the lowest power that will still give a pure white background? I would try lowering them to see if that is not the problem.

Lens flare, specular reflections off the subject or refraction from the hair. Background light is too hot. See what it looks like when the background light is reduced by 2 stops.

Lens flare, specular reflections off the subject or refraction from the hair. Background light is too hot. See what it looks like when the background light is reduced by 2 stops.

 

I too think that is the originating cause.

 

Additional to reducing the Light on the backdrop, (or instead of reducing the Light on the backdrop), I suspect that the "haze" will reduce (perhaps disappear), as the distance from Backdrop to Subject is increased.

 

WW

I would agree your backdrop is probably too hot. I also noticed on the left of the couple you are getting a duller white. So it almost looks like your power is not even on your lighting setup. Some light systems are not consistent do have variations especially at the high end power thus trying to blow out the background. So do you have a wall to the right side of the couple that the light is bouncing back into them. I know smaller studios walls act like fill reflectors.

 

I have seen this in some of my photos as well.. I try to turn down the lights some, get the subject away from the backdrop as well. The further the subject the better but that also means you will need a larger backdrop an more lighting if that makes sense.

 

You probably already answered much of this but figure I would ask a few if you happen to overlook any of that. You can always test your lamps to make sure they are consistent putting out what they should I sometimes take a few shots on just a blank white wall. I have noticed sometimes the brightness varies some because have cheap lights.

Pure speculation .. I wonder if condensation in a very warm setting could have an effect ...