A couple of backdrop questions

[testbloke]

Was having a wee play in the studio, as usual, the white paper train got extremely dirty within minutes so decided to try just the white backdrop and the natural wooden floor. I have linked to a sample image purely as it shows at the kind of setup to the right hand side.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/33105722/sample.jpg
My question : would this setup be acceptible for a "real" portrait shoot rather than white infinity and if so are there rules with regards where the "horizon" should be with resect to the subject, especially on full length shots ?

Second question, with white backdrop, what would be a normal ration from subject lighting to backdrop lighting to get the backdrop pure white ? In this image the backdrop was 1/2 a stop more than the subject lighting but it is not hugely even and white. (backdrop was lit by two gridded oblong softboxes pointing at opposite sides of the backdrop).

Many thanks
Kevin

 

[Garry Edwards]

Maybe the best people to ask about whether this is acceptable or not are your own clients. And, if you think about it, if you shot from just a little bit lower there would have been no floor visible in the shot anyway...

If you're not happy about having to constantly replace white paper, you could of coursealways use white vinyl on the floor and paper for the background. I'm not a huge fan of vinyl, but it's excellent for that purpose and I believe that you may be able to buy any length you like from Viewfinder. It doesn't seem to say so on their page, but it might be worth asking them, I know that they cut it off the roll.

0.5 stop more power on the background is about right. You could try increasing it to 0.7 stop but I would advise against more overexposure than that, you already have quite a lot of light wrap from the background, more exposure will increase that effect. Just accept that if you want a white background you will probably need to do a certain amount of cleaning up PP

 

[testbloke]

Maybe the best people to ask about whether this is acceptable or not are your own clients. And, if you think about it, if you shot from just a little bit lower there would have been no floor visible in the shot anyway...

If you're not happy about having to constantly replace white paper, you could of coursealways use white vinyl on the floor and paper for the background. I'm not a huge fan of vinyl, but it's excellent for that purpose and I believe that you may be able to buy any length you like from Viewfinder. It doesn't seem to say so on their page, but it might be worth asking them, I know that they cut it off the roll.

0.5 stop more power on the background is about right. You could try increasing it to 0.7 stop but I would advise against more overexposure than that, you already have quite a lot of light wrap from the background, more exposure will increase that effect. Just accept that if you want a white background you will probably need to do a certain amount of cleaning up PP

Cheers Gary, as this is a hire studio, we have to take what we are given ! I realise in the shot posted after cropping the floor was gone but more concerned about full length shots. "Clients" (people dragged in off Argyll street) all very pleased but then it was a free shoot for them.
Not sure if light wrap from the backdrop, we had a softbox about 45 degrees behind the right of the girls head and an octobox opposite 45 degrees front of subject.

 

[JonathanRyan]

The light wrap is from the b/g That's why you have got almost hatchet lighting.

0.5 - 0.7 is perfect BUT it requires proper spacing or you'll get wrap like this. She's too close to the b/g for this lighting ratio.

As for the horizons and so on - those are artistic questions. And as everybody knows there are no rules

 

[testbloke]

The light wrap is from the b/g That's why you have got almost hatchet lighting.

0.5 - 0.7 is perfect BUT it requires proper spacing or you'll get wrap like this. She's too close to the b/g for this lighting ratio.

As for the horizons and so on - those are artistic questions. And as everybody knows there are no rules

Thanks for that. Another reason to ditch the white train then as we can get more room to bring the subject forward a bit and seperate the background lighting.