Quote:
Originally posted by DeanCapture
Melvin - here's the deal on making it happen with one light. Because you only have one source of illumination, it has to be stretegically placed to get the right effect, or...you'll have dark backgrounds as you have stated. Here's a couple of things to keep in mind when using one light and shooting indoors.
Keep your model close to the background - 3 or 4 feet is perfect. The idea here is that by keeping your model close to the background, you create a situation where the same light that is used to light up your model can light up your background. If you have a lot of distance between the model and background, your asking for trouble.
The next thing is to shoot it "flat". By that I mean....keep your camera right under the light source so that the shadows are cast "behind the model" and hidden from view. Unless you want shadows on the background, this would be the best placement for your light.
Lastly and the most complicated to explain is this. Imagine placing your light 5 feet from your model. You meter the light on your model and it says f16. Now you meter the light hitting the background and it says f4. Now your background is gonna be way too dark because there so much difference between the f-stop of the model and the f-stop of the background.
Now, just as Donovan P. said....move the light "back" to say 10 feet from the model. Meter the light again. What you'll find is that since the distance between the light source and the model has "increased", the f-stop difference between the model and background has "decreased". I know this is complicated, but it really does work. Now, your background should be lighter and more acceptable. Of course, the best idea is to purchase another light, but if this is just not something you can do, keeping in mind what we've just discussed should help out a lot.
-Thanks for the invite DP.
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Thank you very much, Dean. I do understand the theory that the closer your light source to your subject, the darker your background, and farther your light source it brings the fstop exposure for your subject & background closer together. I was think this is what I might have to do.
Thank you for your time to explain this and offer advice
