Dark Backgrounds & DIY Lighting - Advice Needed

[eizseit]

Hello all,

I'm looking for a solution to a frequent problem with my photos: too-bright backgrounds when I would like to de-emphasize or eliminate them.

Ideally I'd like to be able to achieve what they're doing in these photos. I think I understand the principles behind them but I can't seem to execute it for myself.



I know how to take care of this in photoshop but I would like to learn how to improve it in-camera and with better lighting. I don't have access to a studio or backdrops. I shoot in my bedroom and have to deal with cluttered bookshelves permanently in the background. I have a couple bright lights from the hardware store along with my camera's built-in flash but that's it.

The obvious answer for someone with my minimal equipment should be to shoot with a bright flash and short exposure, but that's never been good enough.

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I've studied photography all throughout high school and college, I learned a lot but somehow not once did I ever receive a lesson on artificial/studio lighting. I've read a couple books but I still feel pretty clueless and I am quite broke so any studio equipment of mine would have to be DIY. If anyone could give me some tips on how to improve my lighting and backdrop issues on a shoestring budget I would be much obliged.

[natek313]

Well, my first suggestion would be to get a black (or maybe a dark blue) bed sheet that you could use for a backdrop.

Without knowing exactly what lights you are using, I would venture to say that they're not putting out enough light, so when you go to take your shot, you are using a longer shutter speed to properly expose the areas you want, and, at the same time, the long exposure is not keeping everything else black (or close to it). Am I right?

If the lights are, in fact, bright enough, I would try rigging up some DIY snoots to use on them so you can really concentrate the light onto selective areas. But, be very careful about doing this; a lot of those hardware store lights run very hot, and it would be very easy for a flammable snoot to catch on fire.

Oh, and I'm just curious; how bright are the lights you have in terms of Watts?

The ideal setup in this situation, though, would be a single strobe fired off-camera. That is what I did when I got this shot:



I set my shutter speed to 1/250 second to underexpose the ambient lighting, and I exposed only for the flash.

Also, that second picture you posted looks like it could be a second curtain sync flash exposure. That, or I even thought it could be a long exposure with someone firing the flash multiple times during the exposure. (That would mean the flash wasn't tied to the camera's shutter.)

Those are just some thoughts off the top of my head. I hope it helps somewhat.

[Murtasma]

Having a dark black background such as Muslim fabric (you don't want the black paper it's more reflective then the black fabric) and distance between the subject and the background the more the better. What you need to do is control the light from spilling onto the background. To control the spill you can use gobo's to block the light, create more space between the subject and the background, use barn doors or using a snoot if your looking for a really contrasty directional light.


This was done using two 1000 watt hot lights with 4 inch snoots on camera left and right. The lights were about 4 - 5 feet from his head. He was about 8 feet from the wall behind him, there was no background just a concrete wall behind him, using the snoots preventing the light form spilling onto the wall. This was shoot in a studio so there was quiet a bit of space available for the light to fall off and become less intense by the time it reached the walls.