Photographer Glyn Dewis shared this cool little technique that lets you work with a black background even if you don’t have an actual backdrop with you. It’s a fairly common trick that he refers to as “the invisible black background,” and it’s a nifty little tip that many photographers may want to keep up their sleeve. Read more…
Here’s a cheap, long-lasting DIY option for those of you in need of another backdrop and/or reflector for your studio shoots. Put together by photographer Tiffany Angeles, this short video shows you all of the materials you’ll need to create your own sturdy backdrop/reflector combo in the comfort of your own home. Read more…
During Halloween a month ago, we shared a simple portrait idea by photographer Nick Fancher that involved firing a flash through fog and a perforated hardboard for a backdrop filled with beams of light. Since that initial experiment, he has taken the concept and developed it even more.
Fancher recently built a “white room” in his basement using sheets of white pegboard and hardboard. It’s essentially a white cube without side walls.
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Here’s a fun photo idea you might want to try out this Halloween: shoot epic portraits showing beams of light streaming in from the background. All you need are a perforated hardboard, a couple of flashes, and a fog/smoke machine (or some method of generating smoke).
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The next time you’re out in a non-light polluted place with your family and your camera, try using our galaxy as a backdrop. Hawaii-based photographer John Hook shot this ridiculously awesome photograph of him, his wife, and his daughter staring up at the Milky Way. As if that weren’t perfect enough, there’s also a shooting star photobombing the portrait in the lower right hand corner!
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After cleaning out his garage, photo enthusiast Drew decided to convert it into a makeshift studio by creating a mount to hang seamless white paper or a muslin from the rafters. He used ceiling hooks, chains, S hooks, and a 12-foot-long dowel.
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At the Bring to Light nighttime art festival in NYC last weekend, artists Sean McIntyre and Reid Bingham showed off the Rainbow Tracer — a programmable rotating bar of LEDs that paints giant rainbows into the backgrounds of group portraits.
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Here’s a quick video tutorial by Olivia Speranza teaching how to create an infinite white background.
It’s possible to build this entire setup with white fabric, and cheap halogen shop lights or household tungsten bulbs, but after you add everything together, these [compact fluorescent lights] don’t seem like such a bad deal. Especially since they won’t generate as much heat or draw excessive power that can blow out household fuses. [#]
The trick is to light your background and subject separately, exposing for your subject so that the background is slightly blown out, showing as pure white.
