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Archive 2017 · High Key Family Portrait: Getting the ground clean white?

  
 
oguruma
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · High Key Family Portrait: Getting the ground clean white?


I have a 23x14' garage studio. I have 3 Strobes (E640, B400, ABR800) and 3 speedlights and enough lighstands for each. For the strobes I have a set of barn doors, a 60" parabolic umbrella, 32x48 softbox and a 32" octobox. For the speedlights I only have shoot-through umbrellas.

I have a 9' Seamless white paper roll in the mail.


I am looking for a good starting point for light setups for high key family shots with poses on the floor. I have experimented with a white collapsible backdrop, and I seem to get good results with a stop more exposure on the backdrop vs. the subject, but how would I go about lighting the ground?



Jun 09, 2017 at 11:35 AM
milkod2001
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · High Key Family Portrait: Getting the ground clean white?


https://digital-photography-school.com/4-tips-perfect-white-background-high-key-photography/


Jun 09, 2017 at 06:28 PM
Steve Wylie
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · High Key Family Portrait: Getting the ground clean white?


By "poses on the floor" do you mean subjects that are seated on the floor, or full body standing poses? If the former, your challenges are a lot easier. Just light them from above, centered above the camera, with your broadest umbrella. Add some fill from directly in front to lift the shadows; you can use a reflector for that, or a weaker flash. Many people don't think to place a fill source (the light itself) below the camera except for headshots, but it works nicely, either bounced off a reflector on the floor, or directly aimed at the subjects and dialed down enough such that it becomes "the light you don't see", that is, you only notice it when it's not there. If you have enough room, bring them far enough from the backdrop to enable you to light the seamless with two of your speed lights, placed on opposite sides of the backdrop and aimed at the far sides (cross lighting). Be careful not to light the backdrop so strongly as to cause "blowback" onto your subjects from behind.

One thing I would strongly advise is to set this up and test it thoroughly before you need to shoot the family, so you understand what each light needs to do.

Lastly, don't be afraid to admit that you can indeed improve your white background and floor in Photoshop if you don't get it perfectly in camera.



Jun 12, 2017 at 11:45 AM





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