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back light in studio query
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i’m currently doing a large project in a studio, gonna take many many weeks, i’m looking for a solution to a problem, i need to use gels to light a white backdrop, in a way that the models will not get the colour cast on them, so far my only option is tracing paper….ALOT and shoot with the light from behind, not really feasable given it’ll cost a bomb for that paper.
Any ideas?
I’m not sure I understand what you are describing for your project. Are you shooting digital? If so then it would probably be more convenient to shoot against a white background and then introduce the colours and shading on the background using photoshop afterwards.
What exactly are you proposing with the tracing paper. If you intend colouring the tracing paper and using that over the lights then you will need to be careful because there is a risk that they will catch fire. Ideally you should use proper lighting gels which would be heat resistant.
Do you have lights to use and if so which ones. Most studio lighting systems have a specific reflector for lighting backgrounds and these would have a clip for attaching filters.
See item 9 on page 18 of the brochure linked to here (1.73mb) –
http://www.bowensinternational.com/content/brochures/freedom.pdf
This can be used to give graduated backgrounds in a specific colour, depending on what is attached. They are limited however because if you are doing full length photos then the light would have to be moved off shot and then it gets a bit more complicated. If you want a variety of colours in the one shot then you need several lights and reflectors.
Do you have a photograph already illustrating the effect you want?
As regards not getting the colour light on your models, you will need to move them away from the backdrop so that the light falls on the backdrop only, which means you will need plenty of floor space.David
actually another option for the different colours
you could hire a couple of colour changer lights from a theatrical supplier. the have primary colour mixing giving you a massive pallette of colours without gels
stcstc wrote:
actually another option for the different colours
you could hire a couple of colour changer lights from a theatrical supplier. the have primary colour mixing giving you a massive pallette of colours without gels
That could make life easier. Depending on whether using flash or tungsten but even then if it was flash, a bit of juggling with shutter speeds and aperture could get over that. Cine Electric would probably do something like that –
http://www.cine-electric.ie/film_lighting.asp
They would be expensive though. I don’t know of anyone else but I’m sure the yellow pages would turn up a few.David
there are a bunch of lighting suppliers, theatrical lights are not flash, always constant. now one thing to be careful with is the colour tempreture is not as accurate on theatre lights. but as your changing things all the time maybe thats not a big issue
the other big theatrical thing at the moment is LED lights, which give you a huge colour pallette and you can get really quite small ones
the issue with all of these type of things is you will also need some form of control for them, it could be as simple as a laptop though
stcstc wrote:
there are a bunch of lighting suppliers, theatrical lights are not flash, always constant. now one thing to be careful with is the colour tempreture is not as accurate on theatre lights. but as your changing things all the time maybe thats not a big issue
the other big theatrical thing at the moment is LED lights, which give you a huge colour pallette and you can get really quite small ones
the issue with all of these type of things is you will also need some form of control for them, it could be as simple as a laptop though
With LED’s controlling them wouldn’t be too bad. Because they are a cold light source you wouldn’t have to worry about covering them to reduce the strength of the light if they didn’t have a fade switch (Are LED’s dimmable) and you wouldn’t have to worry about heat resistant gels when you colour the light.
theatrical LED units are dimable yes, they still do produce heat for the ones that are bright enough to be used in theatre. but you dont need gels the led units can produce a 16million colour pallette from one unit
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