Camera Labs

Hey guys,

I have just signed a deal for my photography company to do portraits for one of my local schools prize day. The idea is that after they have received their prize they come into our studio in another room and have their photo taken with their prize, family, friends and teachers. We currently have white backdrops although I am not convinced this would be a good colour for a formal event. I am a big fan of the Lastolite range so have gone by their colours as a bench mark. I was thinking some form of grey (Shadow grey or Arctic grey) or light blueish (Heaven). What is normally used for these types of shoots and what would you recommend?

I am mainly looking at the paper backdrops since they are cheap and I don't expect to use them very much after this event. Our white backdrops are Vinyl so that they last longer.

Many thanks,

James

_________________
Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

How big do you reckon the groups will be? And how many lights will you have at your disposal? If you can throw a light on the background you can turn it any colour you like, with a grey background being the most flexible. I've had experience with a few Lastolite collapsible grey backgrounds and they work pretty well for groups of 3-5 people depending on how you orient it and your working distance... I wish I could remember what model they are but they belong to my primary photographer and I only ever touch them when we run photobooths at the weddings we shoot, sorry

Even if you only have a key light to use, grey is pretty classy and less "fashion-y" than white. Just make sure it looks intentionally grey, not like an underexposed white background

_________________
Canon EOS 5D MkII | Canon EOS 7D | Canon Digital Rebel XSi | EF 35mm f/1.4L | EF 50mm f/1.8 II | EF 85mm f/1.8 | EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM | EF 135mm f/2L | EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS | 580EX II | LumoPro LP-120

My Flickr

The groups will be between 1-3 people I would imagine. We use a two light set up with soft boxes. The photos will mainly be either full length group body shots or group close ups. I am not sure I could spare a light in order to change the colour of the back drop. What I usually do is use the two lights to expose the people properly. Using two allows me to get rid of any shadows as well. So I think the backdrop colour will have to be the colour I want. I was leaning towards the grey background although I did find a few plain colours that might work.

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-last ... k/p1009025

I quite like this one and think that the results could look quite formal.


Many thanks,

James

_________________
Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

Or even something a little bit lighter like this one.

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-last ... y/p1009027

_________________
Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

Two lights at an even ratio is definitely a good, safe way to go. I always like to do edgier lighting but I have to remind myself there's a time and place for that Those backdrops should work well for you! Good luck and you'll have to post a few of the results

_________________
Canon EOS 5D MkII | Canon EOS 7D | Canon Digital Rebel XSi | EF 35mm f/1.4L | EF 50mm f/1.8 II | EF 85mm f/1.8 | EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM | EF 135mm f/2L | EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS | 580EX II | LumoPro LP-120

My Flickr

It can be fun to play around with different lighting and do that during some of our 'practice sessions' (the time when I am meant to be helping our Sales and Advertising manager come up with new ways of promoting our business ). But like you said for a formal event it's better just to play it safe and get results that will satisfy the customer. I am going to run a grey colour and those two plain ones past the other photographers and see what they think they can do with those backdrops. The event is in about three weeks so we better get organised since these backdrops take 5-7 days to be delivered and I would like to leave a little bit of extra time in case of any problems. I'll upload a few of the final photos if I am allowed. I do need to clarify with the school if I retain the rights to use the photos for advertising purposes ect.

Once again many thanks for the help,

James

_________________
Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin