Kids with white backgrounds

[wholephotography]

<p>So I have read alot of tutorials and things about shooting white backgrounds, but I am still unhappy with my skill and capabilities. I am trying to perfect it with the tools I have to avoid purchasing more equipment. Any advice is appreciated. The Subject is my son Jack and these were not intended to be posed shots, just samples for testing my setup. Although Jack doesn't mind being a helper "tographer" as he calls it.<br>

I would like to know what could be done to improve these pictures under the conditions it was shot on.<br /><br />I don't like the wrap on this, it seems to be excessive. Lighting used is Westcott PhotoBasics StrobeLitePLUS system, 3 lights used, 2 on background and 1 on subject with a reflector overhead to keep light on top the hair. </p>

<p>Subject 8' from background<br />Camera - D300 with 24-70mmf2.8 Lens <br />Settings - ISO200, F11,70mm, 125sec.<br>

<img src="http://www.wholephotography.com/photonetquestions/sm_original.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>Subject 6' from background<br />Camera - D300 with 85mm f1.4 Lens <br />Settings - ISO400, F6.3,70mm, 125sec.</p>

<p><img src="\\webserver\c$\inetpub\vhosts\wholephotography.com\httpdocs\photonetquestions\dsc_9931.jpg" alt="" /><br>

Thanks<br />Craig Hulbert</p>

[thirtyfive]

<p>Had I taken this photo and had the above result, I would have been tempted to drop the ISO to its lowest, taken a flash meter reading from the face and based the exposure on the results. It seems the face is underexposed a little and the front lighting a little flat. Apart from that, the content is really great, its all about trying things out I guess.</p>

[wholephotography]

<p>A bit more of the ones I am unhappy with are viewable here... <br /><br />On my Gallery<br /><a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=899012">http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=899012</a><br>

Thanks for any advice</p>

[wholephotography]

<p>When you say.. the lighting is flat.. are you referring to a broad area at the same intensity? <br>

Would you or anyone recommend using a Low ISO setting on the Nikon D300 ? I had heard it can really be problematic.</p>

[richard_cochran]

<p>There are no hard and fast rules, but it looks like the background is a bit "hot". Look at the sides of the face, and you can see that there's a lot of light coming from behind. A small bit of that effect can work well, but it doesn't look natural when overdone. I'd turn down the background light and/or turn up the main light. If your background is white, you only need as much light on the background as you have on the main subject -- it's fine to turn down the background light until the background is just barely pure white.</p>

<p>Also, it's normally nice to have the main light coming a bit from one side, to give some natural shadows.</p>

<p>On the ISO issue, I always use the camera's lowest ISO setting in the studio, because I can. On my D200, that's ISO 100. I'll turn up my ISO if I don't have enough light, but that only happens in non-studio situations for me.</p>

<p>This picture was done with a main light on camera left, a fill a couple of stops dimmer near the camera axis. Both were 500 W-s monolights. I used a little shoe-mount flash (Sunpak 383) for a background light, but since I aimed it straight at the background with no modifier, it didn't take much power.</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[thirtyfive]

<p>Re. flat light, shaping the light using the flash at different intensities and angles off centre to the model always seem to work, again though, it comes down to trying different things. One of the joys of photography is there are no real rules.</p>

<p>Light at 45 degrees to the model with a reflector to bounce some light back onto the face always seems to give a good general effect.</p>

[silverdae]

<p>When I shoot to a white background, I do this:</p>

<p>I set this up before hand. I meter my main light. meter my fill, then meter my main and fill together (depending on what style I'm shooting). I turn off those lights and meter my background lights (2 skinny softboxes aimed from the sides and slightly in front of the background. I set them to at LEAST the main's exposure or 1/2 stop over max. If I'm exposing for both the main and fill combined, I set it to taht value. </p>

<p>It looks like to me that your background is blown out, causing some light spill on your subject but not filling in the floor. The subject light is no where close to the exposure of your background. Meter your lights one at a time and keep the exposure within a closer range. You'll limit the effect of spill and have a more even exposure. If you're shooting something white, properly metering it will make it white in your photo- blowing something out excessively isn't the best way to make something white.</p>

[susan_smith7]

<p>Thanks for sharing.</p>

[deboramarie]

<p>This site has a great tutorial on shooting white backgrounds. I believe it was three parts...lots of information but well worth the time to read if you are really interested in shooting white background.<br>

<a href="http://www.zarias.com/?p=71">http://www.zarias.com/?p=71</a></p>