The man wanted backgrounds with pizzazz!

[paul williams]

So I was sat down a few days ago chatting with a friend who was a bit fed up with his range of backgrounds and was looking to get something a bit special for some head shots he had planned. He wanted something with a bit of (in his words) ‘pizzazz’. These shots were to be quite close cropped so the background could be quite ‘loud’ as they wouldn’t detract much from the models. So I suggested something very, very cheap & very easy – we popped down to the ‘Shed’ so I could do a quick and dirty set-up to give him an idea of how it would look and this was the result.

Background material is only a few pounds add a set of Lee or Rosco Saturates £20ish - though we already have those and you are done.

Of course for the real set-up a bit more care would need to be taken as there is quite a bit of light ‘contamination’ from the background (you can clearly see the tinge of the background colour on the dummy) so either need more distance between the background and the ‘model’ or some decent flags, or both, but my studio space is very cramped so it's a problem I tend to suffer from anyway.

Paul

 

[cargo]

Very creative.


Is it tin foil with the gels changing it's appearance.

Gaz

 

[paul williams]

Very creative.

Is it tin foil with the gels changing it's appearance.

Gaz

Hi Gaz - Sorry for the delay in responding, no tin/aluminium foils are to delicate, expensive & generally not available in large enough sizes to be of use, that actual background is about 15 years old, it’s a metallised polyester survival blanket. Now after all these years of use mine's getting a bit ‘see through’ but is still in one piece, has no tearing, but I’ve just ordered a new 5 pack. They can also be used as an excellent reflector; tape it tight to a frame for good control or shape it to give a specific effect. I’ve even taped them together to make a huge background – I scrunch mine up to give an uneven pattern and hide the joins. All in all a very useful item to have in your bag and a single one can now be bought for less than £1 – much cheaper than when I bought my original ones.

Paul

 

[markmullen]

Very inventive, I already keep a space blanket in my bag (in case I get caught out shooting landscapes and need to keep warm), never imagined using it like that.

Just one thing, I think you've gone a bit overboard with the skin smoothing on your test shots

 

[GHP]

Just one thing, I think you've gone a bit overboard with the skin smoothing on your test shots

I agree, I hate over smoothed skin, makes it look plastic.
Although, having said that I've seen some shots with real people which look more fake than these !!

 

[paul williams]

Very inventive, I already keep a space blanket in my bag (in case I get caught out shooting landscapes and need to keep warm), never imagined using it like that.

Just one thing, I think you've gone a bit overboard with the skin smoothing on your test shots

Well, the discussion and 'Q&D' photo's happened very late at night, after a few glasses of wine so I couldn't entice a good looking model into the 'Shed' so had to make do with what was close at hand

There is an even more interesting way of using these blankets as a background but it requires a non-scrunched sheet to start with and takes a bit of time to set-up, so when the new ones arrive I'll post some of those.

Paul

 

[markmullen]

very late at night, after a few glasses of wine <snip> so had to make do with what was close at hand

The mind boggles.

 

[paul williams]

Same background material again, but this time with holes punched through & with a flash to one side, pointing at the wall be behind. First picture (top left) with the background only lit with spill from the main light (& the flash behind the background) the other three with a snooted flash on the floor pointing up and some gels resting over the snoot. 85mm lens with aperture set to f2.8

Not bad for an 82p background

Paul

 

[Oscellaris]

Proves that a good effect can be created cheaply. Certainly a new idea to try at some point.