portraits with white background

[Skyeg]

i need to do some cast portraits for a play. they want white backgrounds. what would be the easiest way to do this with only one flash? i can use the flash on or off camera. im worried about shadowsi know the flash is suposed to be higer then the camera to help with that but would it help to have it to the side a bit?. how far from the background should the person be? does it even matter?

thanks
-skye

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Do you want the background to actually be white?
If you do you are going to have to light it as well as the person.
If you are going to use just one flash then you need to keep it near the lens axis to keep background shadow to a minimum. It is better if you can soften the flash as well using a bounce board or trace.
You might prefer to think about doing the shots outside using daylight. It would solve a lot of your problems.

 

[Scurra]

Yeah from my somewhat basic understanding of studion lighting, if you want a true white background you'd be best off having a flash placed behind the subject aimed at the background paper so as to blow it out as well as having a flash for the main subject to even out the exposure...