First-Time with the Seamless!

My first white-seamless shot....straight-out-of-camera.

Obviously I did not lite the back (to white), this was a one light setup (trying to keep it simple), using the:
- 40D
- Sigma 50mm f/1.4
- AB800 & Large Softbox
- F/8, 1/160 @ ISO 100

C&C welcome ....I'm a newb to white-seamless & studio-lighting so any feedback and critique is welcome. (Within reason )

I think you did pretty good! I think you shouldve lit the back ground a little bit more to make it whiter to make the subject pop more, but as it is, its still a good shot.

Maybe increase shutter speed to get Background black or slow it down to get BG white?
Am I right?

OOPs.

I also meant to say Nice Shots!!

Have a look at Zach Arias website for studio lighting and setup.
Also look at creativetechs.com for a 3 day course by Zach on studio lighting which you can buy and download.

backdrop needs to be 1 stop higher than the subject to get it white. I light the paper @ f/11 and subject @ f/8 and turn my high light alert on for my camera. Then i usually have to slightly adjust the backdrop lights to get the lighting i want. I use 4 lights minimum to get good results. I also find that using umbrellas work better v/s a softbox because i dont have to much concern about spill into the backdrop ( thats why i use the highlight alert and tweak my backlights after i set up with a lightmeter ) and the closer you get the umbrella to the subject, the better light the lighting will be on the subject. you could substitute a reflector if you can keep it out of your scene and get 3:1 on your subjects face. A reflector would have made the shot a lot better imho.

OOPS again. Just looked at your flicker site. You've been everywhere that I have. I should have read your Flicker before I gave advice.
Great 1st shots!

PaulTopol wrote in post #10857689
Maybe increase shutter speed to get Background black or slow it down to get BG white?
Am I right?

Wrong. ss wouldn't change anything. Try it. Shoot at 1 sec or shoot at say 1/200sec. You will get same exposure. It is studio with strobes no ambient.

With one light I would have her positioned closer to the bg and keep light away from her. That way difference in light falling on the subject and the background will be minimum. This will help get that bg white. Try it.

Thanks everyone for the comments...sorry I should've been more clear in my 1st post, I was not trying to blow the background white. I'll be trying that latter.
I was simply trying to get use to the seamless and my AB800, by practing changing the light to darkness of the background via moving my subject close and far from the softbox and background.

Your subject looks a little underexposed to me.

poloman wrote in post #10859783
Your subject looks a little underexposed to me.

Here's the histogram:

umphotography wrote in post #10858022
backdrop needs to be 1 stop higher than the subject to get it white. I light the paper @ f/11 and subject @ f/8 and turn my high light alert on for my camera. Then i usually have to slightly adjust the backdrop lights to get the lighting i want. I use 4 lights minimum to get good results. I also find that using umbrellas work better v/s a softbox because i dont have to much concern about spill into the backdrop ( thats why i use the highlight alert and tweak my backlights after i set up with a lightmeter ) and the closer you get the umbrella to the subject, the better light the lighting will be on the subject. you could substitute a reflector if you can keep it out of your scene and get 3:1 on your subjects face. A reflector would have made the shot a lot better imho.

Good point with the reflector, I'll try that next time.

I wasn't trying to take the background white (that's my fault for not posting this earlier), but yes your info is correct & appreciated.

The one thing I noticed was because of my limited space I couldn't get the background incredibly dark...i.e. black. While bringing the light closer & the subject further from the wall darkened the background...I was losing room to shoot.

Here's my space: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=912128 (The Office)

If I got a roll of dark gray / studio gray paper, would I then be able to bring it to black???

MG30D wrote in post #10862040
If I got a roll of dark gray / studio gray paper, would I then be able to bring it to black???

It will definitely help.

bobbyz wrote in post #10862506
It will definitely help.

or you could go to walmart and grab a black queen size cotton bed sheet..hang it up and you have an instant black backdrop for about $20.00. I like your idea, that shot would rock with a black backdrop

umphotography wrote in post #10863904
or you could go to walmart and grab a black queen size cotton bed sheet..hang it up and you have an instant black backdrop for about $20.00. I like your idea, that shot would rock with a black backdrop

True...forgive me, but maybe I'm picky, but I kind of want to stay away from drop cloths...I like the clean look of paper more. (I know, I'm a PITA )

I did not per-say want to go to straight black for this shot...although it would of been nice to try & see what it looked like.

Here Zack Arias went to black, despite having a white background....but he had more room: http://www.zarias.com …2010/06/IMG_143​2-Edit.jpg

I'm thinking if I get fashion gray paper I can get the back darker like so:
http://www.flickr.com …883/in/pool-78111264@N00/

and
http://www.flickr.com …n_photography/4​294107861/

....then I could likely take that to black if I wanted, right?

If you look at these screen-shots from Zack Arias's creativelive course, the darker background shots are kind of what I was aiming for:

^soft-box
^ Beauty Dish

(Both images, are unedited photos taken by Zack Arias at creativelive)