B&W Film Lighting Questions (:

[Sbuxo]

1. I know about bouncing light off white walls/ceilings to soften the light. And I know that bouncing it off colored walls/ceilings can color cast, but what about in B&W film?

I'm going to be shooting a bedroom portrait series as an all-semester assignment and I'll be using tri-x 400 pulled to 200. I have an external flash unit and a tripod. I'll be going to my models' rooms and shooting there, one of them said they have red walls. Will the light bounce off that wall and will it affect the quality of light in my photos?

2. I also know silver and gold bounce cards in color photography can produce warmer tones and such, how about in B&W?


3. Should I use black backdrops in some? Will a black blanket work?

4. Finally, any tips you suggest, I'll take 'em!:love:


:smileys:

Thank you!

 

[craig]

Bouncing light off of a red wall is not going to be very effective. Different colored light may produce muddy tones. Keep it simple by buying some foamcore boards from Staples. Use your light stands to position it and you will create a very pleasing soft light.

Love & Bass

 

[Sbuxo]

Ughh that's what I thought. -_- Thanks for your reply!

...No more suggestions? D: Anyone?

 

[Dwig]

The light bouncing off of the red walls won't necessarily produce "muddy tones". Actually, they will never produce muddy tones if you expose properly and are properly skilled in doing digital B&W conversion. How it affects the tonal aspects of the image depends totally on the colors of that objects in the picture.

Bouncing the flash off of a strong red wall will have much the same effect as using a red filter (e.g. Wratten #25) or doing your digital B&W conversion by discarding the blue and green channels and retaining only the red. With portraits, this will have the tendency to make lips very light, relative to the skin, and to reduce the appearance of any skin tone differences (tan lines, freckles, blemishes, ...). This may or may not be desirable in any one particular situation.

I highly suggest that you read up on the classic use of colored filters with B&W film. A solid knowledge of the how and why of these filters will give you a good start for understanding the best approaches to digital B&W conversion. It will also give you good insight to your current problem.