issues and suggestions for available light situation

[maxmalossini]

<p>I want to shoot some portraits of my colleagues teachers. The main reason/s is because I love the place I work, because I can learn about photographing people, because I like to pick one theme/subject and work on it.<br>

I have some ideas already, but the more I read (here on pn) the more I get worried about what it's going to come out of this.<br>

Equipment:<br>

nikon d50, plus a few decent lenses (nikon 50 1.8, sigma 105, nikon 85 f2 manual, tamron 28-75 2.8). I do not have an external flash (well, I do have a sb26) and I don't plan/want to use it anyway, only available light.<br>

What I want to achieve is this:<br>

bw (my almost exclusive type of photography); very white background; the subject (teacher) sitting at a student's desk. He/she can hold a book or whatever he/she wants, he/she can look at the camera or not, smile, frown, whatever they feel like. (Of course variations of this are also welcome:standing, regular chair etc...). All shots will be similar in composition, just different teacher. I can see these shots being printed on some heavy fiber paper (epson 2880) with fairly high contrast.<br>

What/where I will be working (If needed, I can post a pic of the place on Monday evening):<br>

at my school, in a fairly large Hall, with a large window-ed wall (about 30 ft by 20 ft high) facing west, the wall is actually a fifth side of this hall (think of a rectangle with one corner cut out, that extra side is the glass wall). I have a good stand for the camera, and plan to buy/borrow a large white backdrop (muslin?). I may have to take these shots in the afternoon, after school, so the light may be (not sure) kind of direct/harsh<br>

Concerns:<br>

how do i get the background to be really white, since I don't have extra lights to lit it up?<br>

Do I need reflectors, even when the natural light is not direct sun light?<br>

Is it better the subject is very near the windows or several yards away from them?<br>

[ps: I don't mind grain that much.I use Lightroom (I just bought upgrade to LR 3).]<br>

What I am asking is if you can see any particular issues I will be facing, or suggestions to make this idea happen.<br>

Thank you,<br>

Max</p>

[texxter]

<p>Max, it's great that you have a clear vision for what you want to achieve - the rest is just visual problem solving.<br /> <br /> > <strong>how do i get the background to be really white, since I don't have extra lights to lit it up?</strong><br /> The way to do this is to let more light hit the background than the subject. Or to let the subject get less light than the background. One way to achieve this without flash is to place a diffusion panel between the subject and the window, but let the window light hit the background directly. Also, to achieve a consistent tone across the the background it would be best to have the background parallel to the window - but this may not be possible. You'll have to do some postprocessing to get it white.<br /> Let's say that the light coming from the window gives you f.5.6 at ISO800 on both the subject and the background. In order to overexpose the background place a diffusing material, like rip stop nylon or a light bed sheet between the window and the subject - this may eat up one f-stop of light - now you have f/4 on your subject and f/5.6 on your background for a whiter overexposure. Make sure that the diffusion panel is not blocking light from hitting the background.<br /> <br /> > <strong>Do I need reflectors, even when the natural light is not direct sun light?</strong><br /> If your goal is to have a high contrast portrait you probably can do away without a reflector fill. The reflector on the darker side of the side will open up shadows and reduce contrast. I use reflector fill with window light whenever I want to reduce the ratio between the highlights and the shadows.<br>

<br /> > <strong>Is it better the subject is very near the windows or several yards away from them?</strong><br /> If your goal is to create high contrast, the closer to the light the faster the falloff - this means you'll get the shadow side of the face to be pretty dark pretty quickly. If you move your subject farther from the window you'll get less contrast, as the light fall off will be less dramatic. The contrast will be less, especially if you place your subject so that the light wraps around in front of them. <br /> <br />> <strong>What I am asking is if you can see any particular issues I will be facing, or suggestions to make this idea happen.</strong><br /> You can make this work, but you may end up with low light - this means tripod, iso 800 and a static pose. Please post your results.</p>

<p>Best,<br /> Paco</p>

[paul_k1664875007]

<p>Seems like a classic daylight situation and set up, no particular problems IMHO.</p>

<p>Only thing to think about is that the window faces westward and that's also the direction the sun wil be shining from in the late afternoon. This could possibly mean direct sunlight and harsh shadows.</p>

<p>Attached picture shot under low indirect daylight coming from the right, no fill, with some digital manipulation to desaturate skintone in accordance with shooting theme (Gothic)</p>

<p>HTH</p>

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

[albert_richardson1]

<p>Your reason for choosing muslin might be the convenience of having a material that will not take too much room to store. By now you probably have begun to design a way to suspend the cloth behind your subject.</p>

<p>My experience with muslin is that it wrinkles, and unless I stretch it on a frame like the ones used for theatrical flats, it will not appear flat in the photograph. You cannot iron it enough to make the wrinkles get out and stay out when you handle the cloth to suspend it. </p>

<p>Prepare the muslin a few days ahead of time by first fastening it to a frame big enough to use as a backdrop. Then paint the cloth with sizing to fill in the pores and make it shrink tight on the frame. I think a white acrylic latex paint will work. Paint two extra boards you will use later to reinforce the top and bottom of your finished backdrop. Let it dry before applying another coat of white paint. Let it dry again, this time giving it extra time to make sure. Now remove the side rails of the frame you made. Nail the extra boards your prepared to the cloth side of the top and bottom rails. You can now roll your backdrop using the top and bottom rails. When you unroll it again it should lie flat, and appear to be smooth when suspended.</p>

<p>A better alternative altogether is to buy a few yards of Sunbrella #5404 Natural (white) furniture fabric. This acrylic fabric is used to make cushions for outdoor furniture. Heavier than cloth used for making clothing, it is heavy enough that it comes off the bolt flat and resists wrinkling. Bolts are typically 52" wide. It is 80% water repellent, and can be cleaned with a wide variety of cleaning solutions to remove dirt and stains. Sunbrella also makes an even heavier awning fabric if you prefer.</p>

<p>Since I don't know what country or state you are in, I cannot tell you what yard goods resource is available to you for buying Sunbrella brand cloth. Fabric stores and people that supply custom made outdoor cushions and awnings would be a good place to start. Glen Raven Mills, the maker of Sunbrella cloth is a wholesale only manufacturer, but a visit to <a href="http://www.sunbrella.com">www.sunbrella.com</a> might turn up a reseller or at least a place to start looking for one.</p>

[maxmalossini]

<p>Paco, thank you. very clear, and I had not thought about the trick subject vs. background.<br>

Albert, thank you for bringing up the muslin/backdrop point.I'm afraid this is a problem to solve.<br>

I was thinking muslin for the low cost, but it would be really hard for me to put together all that frame work+paint... I do live in the US (Phila) and I'd go for a easier (even though more expensive) alternative (then I could keep it for my own use). I did check about that Sunbrella faric, and there is a vendor near me, but isn't 52'' a bit to narrow for a backdrop? Can I sew two together?<br>

On the other side, we do have some heavy weight white paper ( a huge roll, probably only 50'' wide) and that wouldn't cost us anything. Whichever backdrop I use, I was thinking it should be a one long piece so to be both behind and under the subject with no interruption? So you won't see the floor-backdrop edge. I do want a full shot, feet included.</p>

 

[albert_richardson1]

<p>I think I would use the paper. The important thing about the width of the roll is that you don't see an edge on the side of your final photograph. Taping two sheets together seamlessly should pose no problem. The two issues to control here are to make sure the work space you use is clean to keep the paper from picking up any dust or dirt, and fabricating some sort of holder or stand to support it in your studio space.</p>

<p>I suggest using as long a lens as possible for the size of your studio space to narrow the field of view. It is helpful to have at least a few feet between the subject and the backdrop just to have some working room, mostly to control any shadow the subject throws on it. Since b&w is relatively insensitive to color temperature, you might consider adding a light for the backdrop just to wash out the area behind the subject. Make your own snoot or barndoor arrangement to keep stray light off your subject. (This does put you on the slippery slope toward using artificial lighting for the whole thing, but making the backdrop even bigger to move it further back will also make it darker in the final print.)</p>

[markonestudios]

Max, sounds to me like you are going for a high key look. With strong light coming in from the windows, it should be fairly simple to get a clean white background by placing the subject in front of the windows then exposing for the subject. This will almost certainly blow out the background without the need for rolls of paper, muslin or complex lighting setups. If you can post a link to what sort of effect you're trying to achieve, that would help a lot too.

[texxter]

<p><em>Max, sounds to me like you are going for a high key look. With strong light coming in from the windows, it should be fairly simple to get a clean white background by placing the subject in front of the windows then exposing for the subject. This will almost certainly blow out the background without the need for rolls of paper, muslin or complex lighting setups. If you can post a link to what sort of effect you're trying to achieve, that would help a lot too.</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

<br />This advice above is not quite right. Assuming for a moment that both the subject and the background are receiving the same amount of light, a correct exposure on the subject will also product a correct exposure on the background. The original post didn't say that the the background was white, otherwise we wouldn't be discussing paper vs. muslin. So if the background is not white, a proper exposure will render it in its true tonality. This is certainly not going to be blown out.<br>

<br />Even if the background were white, a correct exposure would render it white with detail. If the expectation is that the background will be white without detail, it needs to be overexposed. Normally 1 f-stop over the subject exposure will suffice without creating much spilled light back on the subject. So... a white background needs to receive about 1 f-stop more light than the subject in order for it to be blown out.<br />Now, if the background is not white, say a black wall, you can still make it white by pumping enought light onto it. I can turn a black wall white by overexposing it by 3 or 4 f-stops.<br>

<br />Strong light coming from the window will certainly not blow out the background and keep the subject exposed properly.</p>