Pregnant women & black background - How?

[voets]

I've seen several nice photo's of pregnant women on photo.net in B&W.

Most of them have a spotlight pointed at their belly and a black

background.

I tried this at home, but when I use a tripod and long exposure time

the photo is not sharp. When I use a flash and manual settings of f8

1/1000s I can still see the entire background. Plus the nice effect

of the spotlight with the corresponding shadows is gone.

 

Any tips & techniques on how to do this? We'd like to have some nice

photo's of my wifes 8th month.

[dougsgraphics]

You need some space to keep the background from having much light fall onto it, then by screening the main and fill lights with gobos, barn doors, grids, or louvers you can restrict the angle of the lighting to additionally limit the light falling on the background. If you could point me to a specific shot you like, I can try to help you determine the set-up. I haven't shot many pregnant women in this way, but have used a black background on many occassions, for example (not my best, but the only one I have readily available):

<br><center><img src="http://www.concentric.net/~Dew/photos/katied.jpg" size=50%></center>

Good luck!

[voets]

When you search for something you cannot find it....

 

But I think this one comes close to what I'd like: http://www.photo.net/photo/1284267 or this one

http://www.photo.net/photo/1232298

 

By the way. I am using a Sony Cybershot F707 with built in flash. f-range is f2-f8

max shutterspeed 1/1000 s

ISO100, 200 or 400 settings

[wind.dk]

As you've noticed, the built in flash is no good for this.

 

With your equipment, I think you'll be best off using daylight from a window, try with both overcast and direct sun for different effects. Even at the slowest ISO setting (for best quality) I think daylight will suffice for sharp pictures.

 

Maybe postprocess to increase contrast.

 

If you want to add a spotlight, it'll have to be very powerful to make much difference under these circumstances. Or maybe the solution is simply to use a more powerful spotlight in the first place.

 

Incidentally, considering your fireplace picture, I think it's weird you have problems with this one :)

 

Good luck with it.

[dougsgraphics]

As the Ivar noted, on-camera flash won't cut it on this one. The type of lighting you are looking for is strong side lighting with possibly some moderation with a large reflector, diffusion screen, or light box. In both examples you gave, the lighting is close to 90 degrees and only slightly elevated from the subject. The child portrait is a bit more softly lit, whereas the nude is a bit more hard. Where a window would work, you will still need a large gobo or something to protect a "distant" black background from receiving too much light.

<p>My first recommendation is to borrow or rent a studio lighting set, assuming the Sony Cybershot has a PC synch. If not, for this rare occassion, look at renting a whole suite of equipment. I didn't do that at the time of my wife's pregnancies and I now wish I had. I got some good shots, but was using multiple Canon 300TL's which just don't have the output you need. Now I have a good 550W/sec supply with 4 heads and most the accessories I could ever need. <p>

My second option for you, if you want to do this on the cheaper side, especially if you are desiring revert to B&W, would be to get to a home improvement store and buy a set of halogen work lights -- probably a set with 2-500 Watt lamps. These buggers put out a lot of light and can be directed on her from the side (still remember to shade the background and put a bit of distance between her and the background) and shoot away. The coloration will be skewed due to the quality of the light, but you can always mess with that digitally (yuck). If you need to soften the lighting a bit, direct the lights through a thin cloth or paper (just remember to keep it away from the lights, these get darn hot!) <p>

Good luck, and please share the product when done! Email me if I can help out further.

[joelcollins]

<p>To place a white figure on a black background, or vice versa, involves the same technique. You must control which surfaces receive light and which don't. A surface of almost any color or brightness can be made to look black or white depending on its illumination and the camera's exposure settings. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to have a lot of space between the subject and background, then you can blast one object with light, leaving the other one in shadow.</p>

 

<p>Here are two examples, one of each:</p>

 

<p>1. Black background, white subject (strobe head in a softbox pointed at the subject, no light on the background):

<center><img src="http://www.mindspring.com/~jwc3/deane15.jpg"></center>

</p>

<p>2. White background, black subject (two strobe heads pointed at the background, no light on the subject):

<center><img src="http://www.mindspring.com/~jwc3/pregnant1.jpg"></center>

</p>

[voets]

We found some time yesterday to shoot half a memory stick worth of pictures. I think this <a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/1343244">one</a> is pretty OK. I used my dive light and a dark blue curtain.