How to hide gray seamless paper flaws

[o._wagner]

I am fairly new to studio lighting and recently picked up new gray seamless

paper. I had primarily been shooting with white so it was pretty easy to light

it to cover up flaws. For the gray, I want more of a deeper tone to it and

would like to be able to hide flaws in the paper without doing extensive

Photoshop. Is there a way to do this with light placement or settings? My

space is small so I can't place the subject (children) more than a few feet in

front of the paper. I am using a giant softbox on an AB800. I also have a an

AB400 available with an umbrella or a grid. Question #2- what is the best way

to Photoshop the background to hide flaws? I am no PS pro- I primarily use

Kubota actions.

 

Thanks!<div></div>

[eric friedemann]

You might try using Photoshop's Paintbrush tool to even out the background a bit, as here. I also sharpened a little.<div></div>

[nathan_stiles]

Photoshop experts hang out in another forum:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/forum?topic_id=1701

 

I use the clone stamp and healing brush to touch up my seamless. Then a 1.5 Guasian blur or less for wrinkles. I find the paint brush much too fakey.

 

Since this is the lighting forum: I'd add an amber gel to a grid spot and light the background for something more dynamic. Maybe even put some parchment paper between the gel and light to add some texture.

[giggles]

I also use the clone brush to get rid of flaws on seamless. I use a piece on clear plexi-glass on the floor to protect the paper from ripping. The further you position them from the paper and the shallower DOF will help with flaws as well.

[o._wagner]

Thanks guys, I know this is the lighting forum, my original question was asking about light placement or settings to try to hide flaws. Would I light the background or would that just make flaws more apparent? I was hoping to find someone with personal experience lighting gray.

[garethspics]

Creases show up when the light hits them at an angle. The steeper the light, the more obvious the creases. This is true of portrait lighting too, more frontal lighting will flatten features. So the trick is to light it more straight on. Unfortunately your subject may get in the way of the best light position, so try to get some distance between them and the background.

[beauh44]

This probably won't work but I'll throw it out there anyway. It's a long-shot with seamless paper. I can't recall where I read this and it was with regards to getting the wrinkles out of muslin, but basically the photographer put a fan on his muslin and used relatively long exposures. The motion blur of the muslin in the background, caused by the fan, got rid of the wrinkles. I doubt it'd work for paper but perhaps you could try gray muslin some day. I do think increasing the distance between your subject and background may help a bit. If I'm shooting from the waist up, I've had good luck taping seamless paper to a wall with gaffers tape then shooting with a wide aperture and thus very narrow DOF - that can help a lot if there's a reasonable distance between the paper and subject. Good luck!