The advantage to this background is it will never tear - By Missvain
For portraits, it’s not unusual for photographers to employ a white background. After getting their Canon 5D MK II, it’s inevitably one of the first one or two backgrounds most photographers purchase.
You might think it’s easy to light a white background, or wonder if you need to light it at all. You will need to light it and it may be harder than you imagine. Once your subject gets four to six feet from the background, the light from the key falls off in a hurry. At six feet there can be a whole stop difference between your subject and the background. At a stop under the background is not going to be white, it’s going to be a flat gray “vampire background” that sucks the life right out of your portrait.
Situations like these are why incident light meters and flash slaves were made. You’ll want a softbox or umbrella on each side, positioned four to five feet off each side of your background, usually off camera behind the subject. Use a flag or white panel to keep the background flash from highlighting and outlining your subject. That will not be a pleasing look.
Adjust your flash power until the background is a stop lighter than your subject. That will give you that nice pure white glow without blowing back on your subject. In the video Gavin Hoey suggests two stops, but in my experience one is enough unless you have a lot of flaws and wrinkles in the background you’re trying to hide.
Take your light meter and check the back of the subject, just to make sure you’re not getting highlight from the background. The meter check behind the subject should not be any higher than in front. If it is, move the lights or your subject farther away.
In the not too distant past, you didn’t think about shooting a portrait with a 35mm camera. You had your Hasselblad or Mamiya 645. Weddings could go either way, I carried a 35mm and a Yashika Mat. For some of the formal shots I’d even drag out my old Bush Pressman 4×5.
Today a medium format camera with a digital back will set you back nearly as much as a nice car.
The Mamiya RZ33 kit is a modern medium format digital camera. The camera, digital back and lens run an eye-popping $18,000. For that you get an imaging chip that’s 48 x 36. Compare that to a full frame 35mm chip available in the Canon 5D MKII which is 24 x 36. The 5D with a lens is closer to $3,200. That’s nearly a $15,000 price difference just to gain another 24mm on the vertical of the imaging chip.
Why So Expensive?
That’s largely related to the physics of building the chips. When you double the area of a chip it reduces the number that pass Q/A because of bad pixels. Even a small increase in sensor size significantly increases the number of failures.
Add to that the limited number of companies building chips that size, mainly for space technology and remote sensing applications, where they are considered “low cost” imaging sensors.
There just isn’t enough demand in the digital imaging market to make large scale production for photography a workable reality.
Is It Worth It?
Some people think so, but I’m not convinced. The pictures I’ve seen from Canon 5D MKIIs and even my Canon 7D rival anything I ever shot on any of my old medium and large format film cameras. Certainly there’s a difference, but the question is whether the difference is enough to justify the cost differential?
If you have the money, go for it. I’ve seen some amazing work from RZ33’s and the Phase One 645DF, but I’m not convinced you couldn’t get almost as good from your 5D and you could buy six of them for the same money.
For a portrait like this standard glossy paper just won't do - By Assorted-photo-guy
Many people have their home printer doing double duty for printing pictures. That’s fine in most cases, even inexpensive printers have come a long way in quality and with a high grade of glossy paper, most produce fairly respectable results.
For serious photographers your home printer isn’t going to cut it. In those cases you might look at a better photo printer like an HP Photosmart 8750 or one of the pro models.
For prints that are going to be on public display, or the shots you’re going to hang in your portrait studio waiting room, you’ll want something really special. If you really want prints that pop, the kind that, under the right lighting, appear to be back lit, then you might consider enlisting the help of a lab.
What you’re looking for is generally referred to as a “metallic print” on one of several metallic papers, which include Kodak Endura Metallic, Inkpress metallic, Fuji Metallic, Fuji Pearl and Pictorico Pro Opalescent paper.
Select photos of exceptional color depth and detail for this lab treatment, it’s a good choice for HDR and exceptional panoramic pictures. A bonus to metallic prints is they not only practically jump off the paper, they last a lifetime.
There are several shops online that offer metallic print services, including custom sizes, like Nations and Bay Photo, shop around for the best prices.
If you’re going to spend the money on a metallic print, get a big one. Make it six feet long if you have the space. Go big.
Don’t get a metallic print confused with pictures printed on actual metal panels, because those do exist and are fabulously expensive.
Fireman's Insurance building in Newark - by Jim.henderson
I was on location last week when it dawned me that I was carrying about $2,500 worth of gear, and that’s just what I had hanging around my neck and in my vest. Most of the expensive stuff was at home.
At home a disaster would likely be covered by our homeowners insurance and, in some cases, if it was taken out of the car. But if the insurance company gets wind I was on a paying job, they’re not going to pay on a homeowner’s policy, no matter what.
That doesn’t even begin to cover liability. If you break or damage something while on the job, or, even worse, hurt someone.
Types of Coverage
For photographers you’re looking at three basic types of insurance:
– Equipment
– E&O
– Liability
Equipment coverage replaces your gear if it’s lost or stolen. E&O is Errors & Omissions and it covers you from being sued for negligence in providing professional services. Even if the suit is frivolous, unless you have $10,000 or more laying around to pay a legal bill, the cost of defense can be crippling.
Liability is probably the most neglected and the one that can really save your bacon. Knock over that priceless antique vase in someone’s home, accidentally push another photographer down the stairs outside a courtroom, or have a model trip over the background paper and you could be looking at a staggering bill for damages. Many localities require liability insurance before they will issue a permit for film or photography sets in urban areas.
Other liability coverage you’ll want is coverage for leased equipment.
Where To Get It
One stop for most of you will be WEVA. Members have access to their insurance pool where you can obtain all the coverage you need.
PPA offers coverage through third parties and there are companies like the Chubb Group. Fortunately today there are far more options for photographers to obtain insurance than the days before the internet.
Photography makeup done mostly right. A touch dark under the eyes, otherwise spot on - by Benjamin Humphrey
I’m not necessarily suggesting you wear makeup yourself, although that might be an improvement for some of you mugs, along with shaving and a clean shirt, but you really do need to understand makeup basics for portrait clients and models.
Software has come a long way and most makeup mistakes and oversights can be corrected in post. Even at that, it’s hard to beat a really professional makeup artist and I like to capture the best quality product I can in the camera before turning to post-processing wizardry.
I miss the days when a shoot included a hair stylist and makeup artist. You can still find those on really big shoots on a commercial set, but these days it needs to be a big job. More often models are doing their own makeup and the experienced ones know exactly how to make theirs look perfect on camera.
Newer models and portrait clients may need some guidelines. I’m always surprised at how few women really do their makeup right. For some of you it might be worthwhile to publish makeup guidelines on your web site.
Matte Good, Shiny Bad
Whether it’s base, eye liner, lipstick or sealer, anything that creates a shine is going to present problems under strobes and studio lights.
A shiny base and sealers can look greasy under strobes and I’ve never had good luck getting lip gloss to look right without covering my lights with reams of diffuser material. It’s even hard to clean up in post.
You’ll get better results all around going with flatter matte finishes and avoid translucent powders.
Match The Liner and Lipstick
Some women opt for more contrasting colors between lip liner and lipstick, which is fine in a dimly lit club, but is going to look cartoonish under strobes. For portraits and model work, match those colors.
Powder For The Camera
I actually have a favorite powder, which is MAC Select Sheer Loose Powder in NC 30. It’s got a slightly yellow tint that photographs better than translucent powders.Keep in mind when you request that powder, unless your talent already has it, that stuff is $25 a container. Don’t insist on it without being aware of the tab.
The downside for translucent powders is they can make a subject look pale and sick. I’ve never missed with that MAC Select powder over a matte base.
Watch The Under Eye Concealer
Under eye concealer is what’s used to hide dark circles under the eyes. I’ve had to use concealer and a neutral powder on some men, too. A little puffy looking is better than looking like a cat burglar.
If your talent or client is going to use under eye concealer, make sure they blend the daylights out of it or it will show and, because it’s partially translucent, it’s a time vacuum to fix in post. Blend it and blend it again and check ti with one or two test shots.
Avoid Dark Eye Liner Colors
That’s another one of those habits that looks good going out but can take a turn for the worse under strobes. Dark eyeliner isn’t going to make your subject look goth, it’s going to make them look like a raccoon with a heroin habit. If that’s the look you’re going for, fine.
Lighter eye liner colors will make the eyes stand out and be kinder to imperfections.
That said, I have seen dark eyeliner used to dramatic effect, but it was bold and deliberate in its application.
Natural Light Makeup Table
If you have a big window in your studio, put your makeup table in front of that instead of trying to light it. Not only will makeup flaws be easier to spot, but I know one photographer who used it to attract new portrait customers by putting the makeup table in the front window.
