Paper for High Key White photos?

Ok, so I've been shooting senior portraits for about a year. It's been going fairly well so far, as long as I get clients who want to go outside...

However, I've had a number of people asking for indoor portraits...especially the high key white style photos.

I bought some white cloth, kind of like drape material, but its very wrinkly and difficult to work with.

I've heard some things about people using paper...what kind of paper are we talking about here? I need something that will allow me to shoot a full body shot with props like sports equipment (you know the type of photo...personally I don’t like them much, but these arnt my photos are they?

I need to try to rig something up using a huge north facing picture window, a off shoe 550EX and some reflectors.

I just use a block concrete wall painted white and overexpose it
http://www.pbase.com/d​smith131/image/4548439​9
but this is the paper a lot of people use
http://www.penncamera.​com/store/item.asp?ITE​M_ID=5283

Ok, I like the white wall idea.

Did you light the wall with extra lighting to over expose it? How did you over expose the wall and keep your subject from becoming over exposed.

Could you give me a little more detail on what your set up was like?

Your photo looks pretty good...I think I can work with this idea.

Im not an expert and Im just starting out but I do high key portraits using a large 9ft roll of paper. Two lights to flood background set to two stops to the main lightand keep subject not too close to the background or youll get light bouncing back and looking like a bright halo around the subject. Hope that makes sense

get a roll of savage paper and blast it with two lights at 45 (placed behind your subject) - overexpose it many stops beyond your main and fill light

I just used one light on the wall and overexposed it and hair light with softbox close and 2 umbrellas at 45 moved about 8 ft away

i did this the other day with 4 lights ...

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<overexpose it many stops beyond your main and fill light>
Meter the background light, but don't make it too strong...too much and the white 'blooms' and ruins the subject!

You only need to meter the background 2 stops over.
You need to light your background & subject separately - keep enough distance between your subject & the background.
Unlike a wall or some cloth, a roll of white seamless gives you a smooth surface & nice curved transition from the wall to floor.
Lighting the background with Speedlights will be more than a challenge - you are better off with strobes.

I hate the white wall idea! Eventually you'll want a colored background, so why not start with a rack to hold the paper? Then you'll have choices.

a roll of 105" white paper is your best bet... they are $35-45 depending if you buy online or in store... keep in mind that shipping is spendy on those things so check out your local camera shop

Hey,

What does the term "key" (high or low) mean?

Thanks.

dioptic

NGriner,

That's a cool photo!

Here are some questions.

1. How large is the area where this was taken?
2. What kind of post-processing was done?
3. What is the background and floor material?
4. What kinds of lights did you use?
5. How were the lights arranged?

Thanks.

dioptic

It was in the kitchen at my newspaper. Maybe 15' x 20'. All I did was resize it in Photoshop. I shot it on a roll of white Savage paper. I had two 400 w/s Alien Bees w/ reflectors for the background and 2 800 w/s White Lightnings with shoot-through umbrellas both at high 45 degree angles.

NGriner, it could be my work monitor, but the face looks a little underexposed to me. Nice photo though.