Such thing as Too much blown background.

[jay_huse]

<p>Well, I wanted to shoot a portrait with an all white blown background. My question is there any general rules for blowing out the background compared to your subject lighting.</p>

<p>I have the subject about 10 feet away from the white sheet background. Something looks a bit off. Is How much should I blow out the background with my strobes ?<br>

I heard around 2Stops more than the foreground ?</p>

<p>Any help would be great.</p>

<p>thanks <br />jay</p>

 

[rich_evans]

<p>re:Something looks a bit off.</p>

<p>Can you post an example?</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

<p>sure thing. Yo ucan pump som uch light atthe background it effectively becomes a light source and causes you to lose detail in your subject. As measured with an incident meter or a spot meter two stops is about 100% overkill and pushes you into the danger zone.</p>

<p>The best way to light a blank white backdrop is to light it seperately from your subject and using an incident meter set the background illumination level to slightly (maybe only 1/3rd of a stop) brighter than the main light illuminating your subject. Think about it: the background is already white and all you want to do it make sure it a featureless white.</p>

[jay_huse]

<p>Ellis great reply. You are 100% correct, I think the white blanket was becoming a light source. When i was shooting it was reflecting back on my subjects cloths in part of the image. That said it just looked odd a bit. My subject looked a bit dull. I will go back and rework the shot again. Any other tips you can help me out with would be great.</p>

<p> </p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

<p>Here is another tip, since you are lighting the background seperately use large (I use 4 x 8 ft) fomecore panels to block any spill light fro mthe background lights shining into the lens creating detail veiling flare. You can use umbrellas or softboxes to evenly light the background.</p>

<p>Albert Watson -- http://albertwatson.com/ -- years ago built a very deep studio for just this purpose: to light the background seperately and keep the back ground lights well flagged off from the camera and the subject , it also was deep enough that he could use longer focal length lenses and still place his main light(s) where he wants them.</p>

[jay_huse]

<p>Verner, thanks but a few more questions if you would be nice enough. I found some problems you mentioned First, because of the wringles in my white sheets I had to punch up the back lighting for a clear white background. <br>

<br />Secondly, I noticed that my lights reflect back on me the subject and eat away the edges even thou I am 10 feet away from it. This seems like a really easy shot but I seem to be struggling with it. That said I am using a strobe with a 7 inch reflector. I will switch to my another softbox to light the background as well.<br>

The thing that is eating at me is the wringles with the sheet and the need for alot of power to blow out the background. I will try to remove all the wringles in the backdrop along with a softbox approach. If you have any other information on this it be great. </p>

<p>Jared</p>