Keeping dark backdrops (seamless) dark

[OviV]

I seem to struggle with lighting black seamless paper. I want it to stay dark but get a lot of spillover from my main light. Unfortunately, my studio is fairly small so I can not put more than about 3 feet between the backdrop and the subject. Any suggestions?

Ovi

[Ray Marrero]

Hey, try positioning the light so that it lights only the subject. What modifiers are you using? When I use umbrellas I put it high and angle it down. Works for me.

[airfrogusmc]

If your shooting a single person or a couple put them 8 ft or so from the BD use one light with a soft box (not so much spill like with umbrellas)in close to subject and a reflector If you want to keep the subject seperate use a light on the backdrop. Not seamless but you get the idea.

[airfrogusmc]

No light on backdrop

[Saturation]

One light setup with reflector, crappy old black bed sheet, subjects 3 ft. away from it, and very little PP. Just keep trying different things and you'll get it!

[Wilt]

If you are limited in the distance between subject and background, one thing you can try to do is to place the light VERY CLOSE to the subject!

Light distances can be thought of like f/stops. If your light is 5.5' from the subject, it has to be 16' from the background in order for the b/g to be -3EV in intensity (black). If the light is 3' from the subject, the light needs to be only 8' from the b/g to get the same -3EV difference in intensity.

[mR_CaESaR]

using grid softboxes or beauty dishes with grids will allow you to control the amount of spill you have on the background too, ideally though, you'd want to place your subject as far from the background as you possibly can.

[Eric DeCastro]

i just put the light closer to the model, use a kicker and stop up.

[TMR Design]

As Wilt shows in his post there is a science to this and it's not just ramdom setup mixed with trial and error.

The key to this is the maximum isolation between subject lighting and background. If you don't have the isolation you'll never achieve a black background. There must be a full 3 stops difference between the incident taking aperture and the reflective reading from the background. So if you meaure a taking aperture of f/8 then you need a reflective reading of f/2.8 or less (larger aperture) to get black.

As mentioned, moving the subject lighting closer to the subject reduces the spill and I would suggest that you work that way before you start adjust the positions of the lights (height, angle of incidence,etc.) because the whole idea is to create the lighting you want rather than having the light control you. Create the same lighting you originally had but with your main, fill, hair light, accent,etc at much closer range, keeping that lighting contained to a smaller tighter space surrounding your subject.

Of course you want maximum distance between subject and background but this can still be done with only 3 or 4 feet separation. Other methods that I have found to be quite useful in a small studio space are to use devices like barn doors, gobos and flags. Personally I use barn doors and a large black gobo and I can see and measure the difference in light that strikes the black background and the light that returns to the subject.

When I was first learning this I had tremendous trouble due to the light that was returning to the subject from the background. It takes some work to get this right but if approached methodically and logically it can be done with excellent results.

[Wilt]

Originally Posted by TMR Design

As mentioned, moving the subject lighting closer to the subject reduces the spill and I would suggest that you work that way before you start adjust the positions of the lights (height, angle of incidence,etc.) because the whole idea is to create the lighting you want rather than having the light control you. .

Well, that first sentence above is incomplete...you put the subject lighting closer to the subject, so that the relative distance [light-to-subject] vs. [light-to-b/g] are at greater ratio to each other. [2.8:8] vs [5.6:16] are both 3EV differences in aperture. We usually have room for a light to be 8' away from a backdrop, but few (other than pros with large studio space) can conveniently put their lights 16' away from the backdrop!

Separate from the lighting distance control is the spill control that is accomplished via 'flags' or 'gobos' or reflector shape or aiming of the light. The subject vs. background distance is assuming that you have a light at camera position providing fill on the subject, so there is NO way other than distance to background to control that light!

[TMR Design]

Thanks for the clarification Wilt.

[airfrogusmc]

Also remember the closer you work with light the softer the light. Usually work with the softbox just out of the field of vision of the lens and skim the light slightly in front of the subject and onto the reflector also just out of view of the lens. In a studio I also use a soft box over head pointed slightly back to the camera so light doesn't spill on the backdrop and will spate the shoulders as well as giving a very soft hair light that when adjust properly never burn out the hair. For me and my work I have found one light on subject and a reflector gives me the quality of light that I prefer and I can't get with fill light or umbrellas.

[Wilt]

Originally Posted by airfrogusmc

Also remember the closer you work with light the softer the light. .

To be most precise, the larger the apparent size of the light source, the softer the light. A tiny LED flashlight would still provide very harsh light even 1" from the subject's face!!!

[airfrogusmc]

Originally Posted by Wilt

To be most precise, the larger the apparent size of the light source, the softer the light. A tiny LED flashlight would still provide very harsh light even 1" from the subject's face!!!

Yep! I like working with a large soft box in very close. Sometimes in a studio setting I'll set a large shot through scrim and shoot a couple of WL ultras thru it with a full length reflector on the other side for fill. I really like the quality of that kind of light.