Inspired by Zack Arias’s white seamless tutorial and needing to take head shots for a friend’s daughter who is involved in acting, I recently ordered two light stands, a crossbar, and a roll of white seamless. My dining room and our computer room both have large north facing windows with Palladian arched windows above them for lots of natural light.
Ultimately, the computer room provided the best lighting setup, angled right in front of my desk. (I could claim that my desk is usually much neater, but I wouldn’t expect you to believe me.)
I messed up and only got a six foot wide roll of white seamless, so I won’t be using it for any large group shots. :-) I’ve already decided this stuff is probably the most economical way to buy drawing paper for your kids, although I won’t be sharing that thought out loud or my roll might disappear.
Those clamps are insanely hard to squeeze open, but they keep the paper from unrolling.
[I ordered all of these things from B&H Photo and paid no shipping, a perk for NAPP members.]
As far as lighting goes, I’m using sunlight, bounced on-camera flash, and a reflector. Amy and Angie from iHeartFaces gave me a Lightscoop at BlissDom. I’d never tried it, but decided to see if it would block and deflect my on-camera flash, while triggering my external flash unit placed to the side. (That sentence doesn’t even make sense to me, so I hope you get it.)
The funny thing is that I started using the Lightscoop and completely forgot about the external flash. For $30, it’s really an inexpensively brilliant little contraption.
My kids are good sports and let me experiment on them.
Here are a few of the head shots for our friend.
[How many pictures are too many in a post? Will Flickr explode?]
I manage to completely blow out my first shot each time I begin. I also tend to really like those blown out shots.
The key elements have been keeping the focus on the eyes, watching for catch lights, and having someone who is paying attention hold the reflector.
Lens vignetting really shows up with the white background. To eliminate it, you can drag the Amount slider under Post-Crop Vignetting (in the Effects panel of the Develop module) to the right in Lightroom. You would drag it to the left if you wanted to add a vignette.
If you start to wash out clothing color and detail when using this slider, just use the adjustment brush to increase the exposure on the darkened areas instead.
What do you think? Do you like the white seamless background effect? It definitely isolates your subject.
Some day I hope to create a real studio when we’re able to finish our basement, but for now I’m thankful for what I’ve got, and a location that can utilize natural light.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
i think it’s great! i love that you shared those details. so helpful. do you think the lightscoop is worth using if you don’t have an external flash? i’d never seen it before.
melissa stover´s last [post] ..18 months
Yes! To use the external flash unit off-camera, I needed to trigger it with the on-camera flash (but I didn’t want to aim on-camera flash at people!). That’s the only reason I was going to trying to use the Lightscoop and the external flash both. The Lightscoop slides over your pop-up flash and bounces it off of a wall or ceiling. It comes in a neutral and a warm version.
You could also just point your on camera flash at the off camera…… unless you’re talking about the built in flash in some DSLRs.
WTG, Dawn!!!!
Secret Agent Mama – Mishi´s last [post] ..Weekly Winners The Shrimp Po’boy Edition
Oh my, first you lost me on all the camera talk…{{smiles}}….then I was found when I saw the WONDERFUL pictures of Taylor. What perfect head shots. She is an amazing little personality! Lover her and her Mom!!!!
Oh and tell your big girl I miss her and can’t wait to see her soon!!!! It’s going to be fun to see you all each Tuesday. :>)
Vicki, yes, Taylor’s head shots were fun! And Tuesdays? They’ll be lots of fun this school year (if I can handle the stress…) ;-)
Thanks so much for posting this. I currently use a white cloth ‘sheet’ for my back drop & I always have trouble with the wrinkles. I am definatley going to try this!
Danielle´s last [post] ..Post-It Note Tuesday
Loving those shots, Dawn! I have a big room with windows that face south. I’m considering the same thing just because it’s FUN. Buuuut, maybe it’s dumb to get the stuff when um… I’m not wanting to make a business of it?
Beautiful shots, beautiful kids!
Marsha´s last [post] ..my boys are back in town
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