How to white out the BG with only 2 stobes

[rubyscooby]

Hi Everyone I have a shoot where I need to have a as white as possible background but only have 2 strobes, a multidisk reflector, umbrellas ,one medium brolly and a extra White background paper. Any ideas? I am doing full length shots to make matters worse. I might be able to bounce off one wall to the very right of camera.
I know I could go in in Photoshop but the pure amount of images makes me want to get these clean the first go.

Thanks ruby

[snibbetsj]

Use one light for the background (no umbrella, just set it back and shoot), one light for the main (with softbox), and the reflector off the main for the fill. :)

[rubyscooby]

Thanks, I thought of doing it thast way but using an umbella for the bg light. I guess the best would be to have one more extra light to have 2 lights pointed at 45 degree angles at the BG. I am also going to have the model stand as far away from the BG paper as possible.

[rubyscooby]

I did a search on the internet and someone had this good advice:

Find a zoo and convince the zookeepers to rent you an elephant for a day. Paint the elephant glow-in-the-dark white and place it behind your subjects. Put peanuts on the floor, just out of camera's view so that the elephant stays still. Do not taunt the elephant.

[PacAce]

How about using your two lights on the background and have the subject lit by the light reflecting off the background (assuming it's a white background). If you exposre for the subject, your background will be very over exposed which, I think, is he effect you are looking for. You could use reflectors to direct the reflected lights from the background toward the subject. Just an idea. :)

[snibbetsj]

How about using your two lights on the background and have the subject lit by the light reflecting off the background (assuming it's a white background). If you exposre for the subject, your background will be very over exposed which, I think, is he effect you are looking for. You could use reflectors to direct the reflected lights from the background toward the subject. Just an idea. :)

That's quite an interesting idea, I'm sure someone has done this before but I haven't seen it (not saying much there :) ).

Ruby: about the elephant, make sure the backside's NOT facing you :lol: :lol:

[mjordan]

You are going to need to have the light falling on the background from about 1 1/3 to 2 stops hotter than the light falling on the subject. The least you need to make your white seamless stay white is better because to much light is going to cause blow back. This is where the light reflecting from the white seamless is going to reduce the contrast of your subject because it's hitting your camera lens as lens flare.

You need to light your background evenly as well, so you have to have a large enough light source to cover the area that will be seen behind your subject. This might very well require 2 light sources unless your one light source is a very big light source (like a large umbrella, very large reflector around the flash or light panel) but then the bigger the light source the more likely it will appear in the picture.

Some people light the background from behind it, kind of like the window shade with the sun shining in method. But that requires a lot of light as well unless you have a south facing full size window for the sun to shine in.

But try doing about at least 1 1/3 fstop over the reading you are getting for your subject and you should get a white background.

Mike