question on 'studio' lighting

PaulieC

hi, I'm looking for some advice on lighting in a 'studio' situation...
Circumstances dictate that I can't leave the house to take pix for a while, so I thought I'd have a go at portraits. So I bought the following pieces of equipment - white cloth background and background support frame and 1 light stand with brolly reflector which currently has a 150w bulb. I also have an external flash gun on the camera.
I'm trying to get a really bright white background in my pix, where you can see absolutely no detail, just bright white. However, with the setup I have, I'm either getting lots of detail in the backgound (creases in the cloth) if I bounce the flash off the ceiling or else I'm using the flash directly and over-exposing the subject.
I'm going to get a 500w bulb tomorrow, but I suspect that I may need at least two very bright light sources on the background and maybe a lightbox on the subject.
Of course all that depends on squaring the cost of the equipment with her indoors

here's a sample from my first attempt...would appreciate any feedback

Thanks
cambo

dalk

Ok. First off i am no expert on this, but i will make a few points, as part of my job involves taking the odd pic of products sold by the company i work for. (Its a trade site so i am not taking about fashion shots here).

Products are shot against a white background as well. And the key is even diffusion/even lighting. Getting that is extremely tricky.

Pointing the light directly at something will cause blown highlights and a dark background (like you've had happen). The light needs to be defused by something eg we use a white light box that the product is placed into and then the light is shone onto the box to diffuse the 500w of light. The background and the foreground have to be evenly lit to get the correct exposure and ensure a white background (which in itself usually involves some exposure componsation (+1 to +2) to ensure it is white and not light grey).

On the other hand. If i was taking a portrait, at home i would stand the person in the hallway of where i live, which at various times of the day has the best light in the house and take the picture with available light/no flash/with tripod. This approach will give more variable results of course, but may end up looking more 'natural'.

heffsarmy

cameo_gueno, what camera, lens and flash gun are you shooting with?? your exposures are way off. I would suggest that you get another flash gun rather than a 500w buld, mixing these different type of light can be tricky if your not using a light meter aslo white balance is a problem. Shoot the child against a white wall or a white paper background, have the child about 4-5 feet away from the backgorund. Using 2 flash guns, you could place one behind the child for background light, usually about 2/3 - 1 stop to overexpose the background, you will also have to get the other flash gun off your hotshoe and place at about 45 degree angle to the child and shoot into the refelcted brolly, elevated about two above the child. Your probably asking how can you fire the flash gun when its not on the hotshoe, theres loads of options, but if I know the make and model of you flash I will tell you. You should also place a large sheet of white paper to bouce some of the light from the brolly to soften the shadows on the opposite side of the childs face. It can take some time to get the exposures right, but with trial and error you will succeed.

PaulieC

thanks for the replies...I never thought that this would be so difficult. I've read everything I can on flash photography, but it's hard to get your head around.
The equipment used was a canon 300d with 50 f/1.8 lens and a vivitar 728AF flash (which I got a few years ago and doesn't appear to be available any longer).
The camera doesn't have a PC Sync outlet, so would some of these flashes work ? (http://cgi.ebay.ie/PROFESSIONAL-STUDIO-DYNASUN-WOF4003-SYNCH-FLASH-60WS_W0QQitemZ7587500716QQcategoryZ3860QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem). The description says "It can also be triggered by another flash so it is ideal for most of the point and shoot and digital cameras that do not have a PC Sync adapter for external flash."

Heffsarmy, from what you said in your post, I would need at least 2 off-camera flashes, one for the subject and one for the background, is that correct?
Would it be easier to use a darker colour background? I really like the bleached white background and slightly overexposed subject look so I 'd like to get that right first.

btw, that was a bad pic to post as an example of what I was trying to do, I just liked the way it turned out. I'll try to post a more suitable example thisweek

Beats

Here's a link to some basic lighting setups which might be helpful.See point 12 with regard to background.

http://www.theflashcentre.com/guidetobetterpics.htm

PaulieC

thanks. looks like I need some flashes...herself will be pleased!!