A dog, a shower curtain, and an experiment in lighting - C&C and a few questions

[ulrichsd]

I'm practicing some dog photography. My goal is to get a pure white back ground, kind of like this:
Google Image Result for http://rialeephotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/baby-photography-studio.jpg

I'm using a couple white vinyl shower curtains, a couple of sun gun movie lights, a D90 with a 35mm f/1.8. I tried pointing some light at the background and using a wider aperture (lower f stop) to blur the background, but sometimes too much as the dog isn't always completely in focus?

So my question is:
1. How do you get that plain white background? Buy a white photo curtain that is more reflective? Clear the background in photoshop?
2. What's a good aperture to keep the model in focus and the background out of focus?
3. How far should the dog be from the background?

Here's some of the photos. Sorry the backdrop wasn't quite wide enough in the last one... Very little pp, just cropping and adjusting brightness/contrast/color.

Thanks!
Scott

1.

2.

3.

 

[RedWylder]

I can't answer any of your questions but I can suggest using some sort of reflector to get light into his eyes. I've heard using a white board (foam core or poster board) by itself or attaching tin foil to it makes a pretty cheap reflector. I think that's the number one thing that bugs me about these photos is the lack of light in the eyes. Another option would be adjusting the lights and putting them at a different angle/spot so the eyes catch the light. Other people will no more about this though.

 

[mwcfarms]

If you check out my flickr stream, or previous posts here you can see my white background set up. I use backdrop stand and have a roll of white seamless on it that I carry out further with a 4x8 piece of reflective tileboard from Lowes/home depot. I keep a smaller aperature usually between F8 and F11, through a light aimed at the backdrop a couple stops higher than my main light and try to keep the subject at least 4 feet from the back. In the beginning I tried without a background light and used reflector and found I was cleaning up too much in post.

Oh and if you google Zach Arias white background he has a great video about achieving it.

 

[Propsguy]

I find that it's necessary to light the BG independently, and a full stop higher than my subject lighting. You can cheat this by using a shoot through umbrella and bouncing the spill back onto your subject as fill, and get a "two for one special", but you will consistently get great results if you light BG, then light your subject, and flag any spill from your subject lights off of the BG to prevent blowout.

 

[ulrichsd]

RedWylder, thanks for the suggestion! I agree, the eyes need to some light. I had one light on a tripod facing the back drop, and handholding the other one, but a reflector is a great idea.

Dee, thanks for the website, Zach's photo's are amazing and that is a great site for info. I found the article you were referring to and that will be super helpful (and quite funny!)
zarias.com :: The blog of editorial photographer Zack Arias » White Seamless Tutorial :: Part 1 :: Gear & Space
His comments about space where dead on, I grossly underestimated the amount of white space I'd need just for a medium-sized dog.

Propsguy, thanks for the input, I have no umbrella as of now, just 3 movie lights that I use while attempting not to burn my house down My cold-weather-loving dog will only put up with those heat lamps for so long... eventually I'll get something a little better!

Scott

 

[mwcfarms]

Glad I could help.

 

[Stryker]

The camera read white as grey so we always have a grey background or a grey wedding dress though it is white. Try bumping up your expsoure level to "+1." You'll have a whiter white. This is also true for a white wedding dress.

 

[ulrichsd]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...sg=AFQjCNHuKu4V3fp3077GRpTIVRmi5aE8vQ&cad=rja

 

[gsgary]

Getting a pure white background with continuous lighting is hard unless you spend a lot of money, flash is what you need
I always shoot dog on a black background