I have been trying out who know how many different types of background but I always came to the conlusion that the most suitable for me are my gray patterned collapsible backdrop you must have seen on my portraits before and the one I recently purchased which is black/white collapsible one. I bought it from Digitarvike.fi store which I have purchased a lot of different photography related products from them and continue to do so. I recommend this store to everyone for the great products the have and great customer support if you ever would need one.
Black background, as funny as it may sound, makes a perfect color for making white or colored halo behind the model. The things works in such a way, that you put a Stofen light modifier on your flash and then place the strobe about three feet from the background facing it. Place it so that the stand and flash is behind the model so they won't show up on the final image.
Then all you need to do is to find the power setting which is good enough for the effect you want. I usually start with 1/4th power setting. Below is an example on how the backround light illuminates the background when the model is in fron of the strobe.
Then you just pop in the key light and the portrait is done.
Next comes the coloring the background. Best and easiest way is to still use the same black background and add a color gel into equation. By placing the color gel between your background strobe and Stofen, you illuminate the bakcground with the color. You can also mix different colored gels to get exciting colors as well.
Little word of warning: When you use color gels, make sure the model is far enough from the background in order to prevent to color spill into model's hair. If the model sits too close, especially blonde hair can be colored with that color as seen below.
Wendy Fisher said...
Good call on reacquiring this lens. :)
Wendy Fisher said...
Eep! This was not where I meant to leave this comment!
