Dear Readers,

I am currently away on holidays and will be back in Berlin on the 30th of November. During this time there will be some silence on this blog, but as soon as I am back expect some more lighting tricks and tips, a few videos on photography and similar and some advice on other issues!

Yours sincerely

Luis

Studio photography always has the additional challenge of making you think what to do with the background. Putting a model in front of a plain monochromatic backdrop can produce really nice pictures, but if you work a lot in your studio, after a while you might want more variety.

If you look at studio photos, you will see that some pictures work very well with a monochromatic backdrop. If you have a well styled model conveying a strong message, then you can really get strong results with a low-profile simple background.

Recently, however, I have started looking at ways to make backgrounds more interesting. I have seen photographers use various tricks:

• using less conventional backgrounds: patterned backgrounds, textured backgrounds, backgrounds which reflect light back to the camera in interesting ways…
• adding props to the set: boxes, walls, cloths, plants, etc…
• lighting the background in more creative ways: using highlights or shadows

The third option was the one I tested in my photo session with Giada. I wanted to create shadows on a gray monochromatic backdrop. Here follows the resulting picture and the lighting setup.

The model has been placed close to the backdrop to create the strong shadows. I used one light source reflector with a grid pointed at the model from above the camera and at a distance. Enjoy!

While reviewing my images on my camera, I wondered what it would look like to make a timelapse of all pictures taken on a photoshooting. So I took all 800 pictures of last week’s session with Laura and made a timelapse movie with it. Make sure you watch in HD quality!