Quick Lighting Question

[Biomech]

I fire a studio flash through a large white perspex panel into a 4ft x 7ft box that has a black backdrop. The people are well exposed but the background is black black. This makes black clothes and black hair blend almost seamlessly into the background.

I'm looking for a fix.

Adding back lights isn't an option at the moment (ooohh although I could add some white LED strips maybe...) certainly not this week anyway. The roof and floor are both white, but as the flash fires through the perspex, angling the head unit makes no difference. Any ideas?

I've had a thought - I could possibly increase the flash and adjust the A/S to re-expose perhaps. But I've just shut the whole thing down so can't test that and I don't think it would work.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. TIA

[Jim Poor]

Can you add a hair light rather than a back light? I'm not sure if you're talking about physical restrictions when you say you can't add a back light.

What about a reflector above & behind the subject to get some separation / rim light?

Switch to a white or other color backdrop?

[OsmosisStudios]

You need a rimlight. That's gonna come from some sort of flash or light source behind the subject.

[gturner]

White shirts and blonde wigs?

I am a little confused when you say 4ft x 7ft box -
- how far is the subject from the back drop
- where exactly is the flash located in relation to the camera and subject.

As I imagine it, you really need a kicker light, behind and above to the left or right to create the edge definition you are looking for.

[Biomech]

It's a giant party photobooth. The actual problem is not the shots but the colour profile on the new laptop for the printer, the images themselves are ok but the prints aren't, it's just I need a SUPER quick fix as I don't have time for testing until after this weekends jobs :P

[Biomech]

...and as an aside - I don't suppose anyone here has tried running an Adhoc connection from a droid device into a windows RDP host? :P

[AnonymousKiwi1]

Ahh.... gobble de goooooooook...............


Sorry. Serioursly, I hope you find a solution to your problems, Jamie. Best of luck.