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With my 16+ yrs experience as a pro and a headshot specialist, you'd think I'd have used hand-painted canvas backdrops by now - but no, I've always used paper and added a texture in post.
Whilst this method is fast and flexible, I've often wanted to do it more in camera. And a change of approach may men I can shoot with just one light sometimes which would be faster on location.
So I have a couple or three of questions - not to learn how to do it, but more of a straw poll because I find other peoples' approaches interesting. (And I understand that a lot is "it depends on what you want to achieve" - hence this just being a straw poll for fun).
I', not so much thinking of the older style, mottled backdrops. More the Vanity Fair type textures we see Annie L. shoot with. And I'm thinking of single portraits or headshot type images.
1) What sort of distance would you typically have the subject from the background?
2) F-stop choice on full frame, (ie what results in an optimum texture / focus balance).
3) What is your favourite colour? (I usually use charcoal grey and light it, but a close background means I can't).
4) What do you love about hand-painted backgrounds and what do you hate?
5) If my background is closer, I don't need the width. I typically shoot headshots in landscape so 5ft enough?
6) Those Lastolite textured popups with a fake vignette look gimmicky - am I wrong?
Pretty much all of those questions can have a "it depends" answer. But most photographers have a go-to approach as their favourite starting point even if we like to think of ourselves as creatives. (I know I do).
So interested in hearing what people tend to do with respect to distance, f-stop and colour as their go-to solution. Feel free to be specific.
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