Which background for White dress

lartamax

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John
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I will be covering a first communion soon so lots of white dresses.
To date I have been doing some high key with an Arctic white paper roll plus 2 D lites ie and a set of speedlites. Obviously with wanting to show the detail in the dresses a white paper roll is a non starter.
I had been thinking of grey and staying with paper. Any thoughts or suggestions ?.

John.
 
Obviously with wanting to show the detail in the dresses a white paper roll is a non starter.

Why do you say that? Shouldn't be a problem if you control the light.

Last time I had to shoot white dresses on a studio background, client chose "silver birch" and it worked out quite nicely.
 
I assumed the white of the dress would merge with the white paper roll and although the dress would be clearly visable you may risk losing some of the finer details of the dress. So had been cobsidering a different colour or maybe using a material of some sort.
 
White on white should be fine so long as you control the light. If you decide on a grey look, white paper will look grey when not lit.

Up here I like the background as the inside of the church itself.
 
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Your paper is probably wide enough to leave enough space between subject and the paper to control the light independently on both?

Just greenscreen 'em and paste some tropical islands behind :D
 
yes, white on white is perfectly doable, I have done kids in karate Gi against white, it can look quite dramatic. However, I suspect the parents will want something different, so unlit white would look pale grey, but as EOS_JD says, somewhere in the church or its grounds might be better on this occasion rather than an actual backdrop. I also have a pale grey paper roll, which depending on how you light it can anything from quite dark to quite pale.
 
yes, white on white is perfectly doable, I have done kids in karate Gi against white, it can look quite dramatic. However, I suspect the parents will want something different, so unlit white would look pale grey, but as EOS_JD says, somewhere in the church or its grounds might be better on this occasion rather than an actual backdrop. I also have a pale grey paper roll, which depending on how you light it can anything from quite dark to quite pale.

Yes I've used the grounds too (don't know why I omitted that)! Good light and it can be beautiful.
 
White would only give you problems if your lighting was sloppy ;) On my lighting course I ask the delegates to light a subject dressed in white on a white b/g and they usually manage.

Take a glance at some bridal catalogues to see white dresses against different colours - e.g. http://www.thehouseofnicholas.co.uk/saphire/
 
White would only give you problems if your lighting was sloppy ;) On my lighting course I ask the delegates to light a subject dressed in white on a white b/g and they usually manage.

Take a glance at some bridal catalogues to see white dresses against different colours - e.g. http://www.thehouseofnicholas.co.uk/saphire/

Thanks for the link and everyone elses comments looks like my concerns about white on white were unfounded.

John.
 
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