Please help with my portrait project - suitable backdrops for my situation

[ryanlikealion]

Hello all

I run a music group for adults with learning disabilities and this spring we'll be making a recording for which i want to make a cd cover with a photgraphic collage of the participants on it.

I am limited to monday afternoons in lackluster room poor lighting (an old community centre with fluorescent office lights) and crumbling walls which are a horrible yellow colour. Basically, it is far from ideal for photography but i want the photos to be as good as possible. The only thing it does have going for it is that there is fair bit of natural light coming in from a row of windows which face north north east.

I have 430ex ii flash gun and some old spot lights my dad used to use for stage lighting in his band. Im wondering if it is worth investing in backdrop stand and if so which materials should i buy for the actual backdrops?

[autofocus]

I run a music group for adults with learning disabilities and this spring we'll be making a recording for which i want to make a cd cover with a photographic collage of the participants on it.

Will you be shooting them individually, or as a group, or groups?

I am limited to monday afternoons in lackluster room poor lighting (an old community centre with fluorescent office lights) and crumbling walls which are a horrible yellow colour. Basically, it is far from ideal for photography but i want the photos to be as good as possible. The only thing it does have going for it is that there is fair bit of natural light coming in from a row of windows which face north north east.

Can you shoot outdoors? This room with it's lights and colors can cause you a lot of problems, especially with the fluorescent lighting. If the window light is good, I would turn off the overhead lights and use your flash and/or reflector, but that also won't work well if you are shooting a large group of them.

I have 430ex ii flash gun and some old spot lights my dad used to use for stage lighting in his band. Im wondering if it is worth investing in backdrop stand and if so which materials should i buy for the actual backdrops?

Really depends on the look you want. There are plenty of colored paper choices you could go with, and I would recommend the more neutral colors should you decide to go this route. (as in bone and grays) Again, depending on the size of the group will dictate the roll size of the paper you will need to get...they come various widths. For all of the above reasons I will again suggest shooting outdoors if you somehow can.

[ryanlikealion]

Shooting them mostly individually but in no more than groups of 3.

Probably going to use monochrome images. So i'm assuming black or white back drops are best - just wondering which materials are most suitable i guess.

If weather is suitable we can go outdoors but it's rarely good here!

I'm definitely not going to use the overhead fluorescent lights. So that leaves me with a good amount of natural light and a flash gun (which i have little experience with so will have to learn) for "fill light" (if that's the correct term?). I have to say that the natural light coming in is normally pretty lovely and soft.

[ryanlikealion]

And by the way, as you've prob worked out i have little experience in this area and have posted in this forum just to see what i can learn from others re. ppl photography. I have literally no experience of using backdrops so any tips welcome!

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by ryanlikealion

And by the way, as you've prob worked out i have little experience in this area and have posted in this forum just to see what i can learn from others re. ppl photography. I have literally no experience of using backdrops so any tips welcome!

Being that you'll be converting to B/W, are the walls behind the subjects so terrible? Sometimes a grungy look can be interesting. If you only want to use a backdrop for the shots, I would recommend paper, and for three subjects you will probably need the wider put ups (I think they're around 109 inches, or so) Black or white backgrounds can also influence your exposures, so metering becomes more critical. Large black areas may tend to overexpose your subjects whereas large white areas will tend to underexpose your subjects. You will want to be watchful of that, check your histograms and adjust your exposures accordingly. Is this all starting to scare you a little?? An overcast day outside is your best friend, and you'd want to seriously consider the great outdoors for this little project. Plus you eliminate the expense of a backdrop stand and paper that could easily wind up costing you a few hundred bucks. How many subjects will there be in total, and do you want to make this investment?

[ryanlikealion]

Good point about the backgrounds in b&w they may not be so bad.

The exposure/histogram stuff isn't so scary i'm normally quite good at getting metering/exposures correct. Although i appreciate what you're saying - it'll probably be a challenge adjusting to the backdrops. And it would benefit me to gain experience of using backdrops.

I guess the question is, how can the use of backdrops add depth to my images? I don't mind the investment if I am because after-all it'll be a learning experience, regardless of the final outcome.

There are 8 service users in total who i'll be photographing. I took some photos of them 6 months ago which were ok by my standards and helped me pass the course i was on, but I now want to improve on things. Make more interesting compositions (rather than typical head and shoulders portrait) and use lighting more dramatically. I want the images to have some depth to them. I have been experimenting with red and green filter effects and can't decide which i like more - i guess it's a case of experimenting. And also researching other photographers work.