By John Siskin
I have seen a lot of good images taken with a sheet for a background, but I have seen more images that would have been better if they were made on a real background. I want to talk about what a real background is and how you can use it. The first thing you need from a background is size. I think that 9X20feet is the minimum. Why so big, well the first reason is that you can do a head to foot shot on this size drop and have the subject standing on the background. Even a king size sheet isn’t big enough for the subject to stand on. Another important aspect of a big background is that you don’t have to worry about whether you have enough on the sides. This frees up the photographer to move around in front of the subject. The other thing a big drop provides is the ability to move the subject away from the background so that you can adjust the light separately on the background from the subject. This provides a lot of ability to manipulate the color and density of the background without changing the subject. The extra distance between the subject and the background means that we can solve the problems of shadows from the subject falling on the background. I generally want at least 5 feet between the subject and the background, frequently I will use more!
 Camilo A. with Dark Background. © John H. Siskin All rights reserved |
I set up this shot to show how you can change the light on the background in order to change the way the background appears. I used a middle grey background. I think this is the most useful background to have, particularly if you are changing the color of the background with lights. I asked Camilo sit in for this shot. He has a strong face, which is good for the hard light I used in this shot. I used a single strobe for the subject with a small umbrella. I used the umbrella as a shoot through, and positioned the light very close to the subject. I didn’t think this would be flattering but it did reduce the light spilling on the background. I wanted to do this shot to make a point about backgrounds not shooting portraits. I placed a light panel with a black cover between the light and the background to further reduce the light falling on the background. If you mix light from the subject with the background light you’ll get less vivid color, more of a pastel. Above is the shot of Camilo with out any light on the background.
 Set-up for Camilo A. Shots © John H. Siskin All rights reserved |
Here’s the way the set-up looked. Notice the distance between the subject and the background.
 Camio A. with Blue Gel © John H. Siskin All rights reserved |
In this shot I added a blue gel. The background light and the subject light are at the same power. Pretty vivid blue, huh? Of course I wanted to make a point with this, in an actual portrait I would make the background darker, which is just a simple adjustment of strobe power.
 Camilo A. with Orange Gel and Neutral Density © John H. Siskin All rights reserved |
Here I reduced power to the background light and used an orange gel. I think this is a very useable background.
 Camilo A. with Red Gel Through the Background © John H. Siskin All rights reserved |
In this last image I put the background light behind the background and put the light through the background. I like this look; it seems more three-dimensional.
Thanks, John
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