Avoiding backdrop shadows using undiffused lighting

karmagarda

karmagarda

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Ok, I'm messing about a bit with undiffused flashes to try get some nice shadows in portraits. Don't have any examples I can show unfortunately. But here's my question, how do you stop harsh shadows appearing on backdrops without getting the model to stand about 10 feet away from it! My setup varies with experimentation... it's varies from 1 bare flash high(ish) and to the left and a fill flash off a back wall, or maybe 1 bare flash left, 1 diffused flash (behind shoot through) on the right, to just 2 bare flashes... But I can't seem to stop harsh shadows hitting the wall and can't quite figure out if I can stop it happening... Even tried 1 behind which kinda worked but I got quite a funky gradient lighting effect, which was a nice accident and might get used for another shot!, But wasn't quite what I wanted.

Is this something I'll have to live with/just get the model to move well away from the back drop, or is there a really neat trick to get around this? :thinking:
 
The short answer is that you can't unless the lights are placed at an acute angle so that the shadows fall out of shot, and of course that only works by happy accident, because the angle of the lighting needs to be the angle that gives the effect you want, not the angle that happens to place the shadow out of sight
 
Garry Edwards said:
The short answer is that you can't unless the lights are placed at an acute angle so that the shadows fall out of shot, and of course that only works by happy accident, because the angle of the lighting needs to be the angle that gives the effect you want, not the angle that happens to place the shadow out of sight
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Yeah, that sounds like it might work without sacrificing what I'm trying to achieve. Gonna give that another shot before the weekend.

Ta muchly Mr Edwards! :D
 
You can do it if you light the background so it's just lighter than the shadow being cast.
 
JasonRS said:
Move the model and backdrop further apart. :)
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Cheers. As mentioned I was wondering if there is a trick to getting rid of the shadows without having to do this. This is an option, but it leaves me tight for space when doing full length shots.

crashtestmac said:
black backgrounds....

lol
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:lol: unfortunately that causes an issue when you're trying to shots with a "non-black" background :D

The23rdman said:
You can do it if you light the background so it's just lighter than the shadow being cast.
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Interesting. I kinda see what you're saying... but at the same time I don't! Do you mean use a strobe/flash to light the background as well? I tried this but with only 1 flash it seems near impossible to get a fairly even light distribution.
 
AliB said:
Flagging?
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Trying to think how flagging will help me but can't. The shadow I'm getting is the model, and that's what I'm trying to avoid. By using flagging wouldn't I still have to bring the model a lot further out from the backdrop? If not, I mustn't be getting what you're saying... and I won't lie, I'm still technically a "noob" in this area!
 
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