Lighting Advice using gels and background

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13 Aug 2008 - 11:15 AM

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mad-dogs

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13 Aug 2008 - 2:01 PM

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Quote: As above.

it's worth pointing out though that although saturated colours can only be obtained with dark backgrounds, overexposing the background can produce pastel colours if required.

Also, you'll find when you experiment that you need very even lighting on the background

The more light you put on the backdrop, the more that will be reflected, thus increasing the risk of colour contamination on the subject.

How you light the backdrop depends on how you want it to look.
If you want a strong spot of colour, then use a harsh light, either bare bulb or silver reflector on the head.

If you want weaker less saturated colour and more even, then place gels on the front of a softbox or on the baffle inside a softbox.

You may find that ambient light and / or spill from the main & fill lights will dilute the colour down

High temperature gels are the safest to use and probably the only option if photographing in schools or other premises.

A better option may be choosing a pastel coloured background and lighting it normally.

mad-dogs

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13 Aug 2008 - 4:03 PM

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Try here for a suitable backdrop.

I would err towards a coloured backdrop rather than using gels to get that type of effect.

The Sapporo backdrop looks quite good.

A nice hand painted background with pillars or sweeping staircase may be worth the investment if you think it might tempt the parents into buying larger images - sod the credit crunch

Backdrops - EXM419