Portraits B&W, black background

[straymercury]

Hey all,

I am interested in taking black and white portraits on a black background. I am using high contrast film ( Ilford FP4 plus, 125). I want the person to look very light and the background to (obviously) be very black. I am using a velvet curtain behind my subject.

I am shooting on a Canon Rebel Ti. Do you have any advice on how to insure a high contrast effect without washing out the person with too much light? I assume this has more to do with light set-up than anything else.

Any advice for the ISO?

Any help would be wonderful. Thank you.

 

[cgw]

What type of lighting are you using? Not clear whether you're shooting digital or film or what camera you plan to use.

The trick here isn't so much the color of the background as it is the distance between it and the subject and the absence of light on the background.

 

[jake337]

May I ask why you want a jet black background. I think having some light on the background will give the imag more depth.

 

[jake337]

Like this?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakekleinphotography/6897642906/in/set-72157625776320402

 

[kundalini]

Like this?

Or this?

Or this?




Have the distance of your model to the background to be greater the 4 feet (1 meter) and do not light the background. Easy peasy.

 

[Mike_E]

Meter your subject correctly for what you want and don't worry about the background.

You could use a light gray background and if you have the subject lit at least 3 stops brighter then you'll have a black background.

hint: have your shutter speed set 4 stops over the ambient, so long as it's within your sync speed will help with this. Using a combo of shutter and aperture setting works too. So if the ambient is 1/30 @f2.8 then a shutter speed of 1/125 and your aperture at f8 even a white background should be black. Just set your strobes to light the subject at f8 (total) and you'll be set. If you want it to look washed out you can later adjust in post or adjust your aperture accordingly as you shoot.