How to light for Black?

take a background stand and hang duvetyne behind the talent. other than that, you can do pretty well if you just control light spill around and behind the talent. small rooms, however are a pain sometimes to do this in though. I've used the duvetyne many a times just for this look.
 
I shot an interview last week with a black-void backdrop. Hang a black cloth behind the subject, and keep light from hitting it. The farther away the backdrop is, the easier it is to light.

(Perrone, those are great pics!)
 
The funny thing is, that was the first and ONLY time I've ever done a black backdrop. I knew what I wanted, but had no examples to go by. So I took photos in case someone else was stuck trying to do the same thing. It turned out pretty well for a first try.

I'd change a few things, based on what I learned, but this was a hit with the intended audience. The other thing, is that these backgrounds tend to give the compressors very little to do, so they compress up small, and stream fast.

-P

Chenopup said:
Great example, Perrone!
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If you can work your shot around the subject, i.e. doing mid torso to just over their head, you might want to put a small kicker behind them, just to backlight them, making them stand out from the background.
 
Capt Quirk said:
If you can work your shot around the subject, i.e. doing mid torso to just over their head, you might want to put a small kicker behind them, just to backlight them, making them stand out from the background.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's exactly what I did.. works great. And probably necessary if they are wearing dark clothes. Those would blend right into the background with no separation.
 
PerroneFord said:
Like this:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/album.php?albumid=32
Click to expand...

Perrone:

I like the look of your interview and thanks for the setup pictures. Out of curiosity, why did you place your key source so far from the talent though? With your Rifa half flagged off and that it is located so far from the talent, you turned it into a pretty small source, the quality of the light looks a bit specular to me, not bad at all, but placing your Rifa much closer to the talent would have softened up the light on his face.

I generally use one of my small Chimeras for H&S interviews and I have it about 20" from talent so it is that much more flattering as far as filling in lines and wrinkles. Also, have you considered an egg crate for your Rifa? They are expensive but tailor made for these sorts of setups.

Dan
 
Thank's Dan. I had to pre-light and it was supposed to be a "4 minute PSA". I didn't have time to close light the talent after he was seated. As it was, he moved from the spot I needed him because we needed to add a different chair and a desk at the last moment. He scooted nearly past my foamcore bounce board!

I was shooting 2 cameras, sync sound, and trying to light as well. I just couldn't absorb it all and still get the shot. I ended up screwing up the audio and had to do a second pass on half of it and blend in post.

Ordinarily, I'd be doing this with the fluos in the RIFA and it would be a lot closer. But I had the 1k in there for this shot and since I had no makeup, I had to stand off the light.

Sometimes you just can't do the things you'd like to do.

And yes, I've considered an egg-crate. I cannot afford one at this time. Nor for the forseeable future. I'll see if I can write one into my next larger budget piece. My current project paid for my Senn. G2, Countryman, and FigRig. I still need a second lav, boom pole, a couple more c-stands, some diffusion, etc. And yea, and eggcrate in there somewhere maybe.

-P

puredrifting said:
Perrone:

I like the look of your interview and thanks for the setup pictures. Out of curiosity, why did you place your key source so far from the talent though? With your Rifa half flagged off and that it is located so far from the talent, you turned it into a pretty small source, the quality of the light looks a bit specular to me, not bad at all, but placing your Rifa much closer to the talent would have softened up the light on his face.

I generally use one of my small Chimeras for H&S interviews and I have it about 20" from talent so it is that much more flattering as far as filling in lines and wrinkles. Also, have you considered an egg crate for your Rifa? They are expensive but tailor made for these sorts of setups.

Dan
Click to expand...
 
Perrone... Even though you didn't have every piece of equipment you wanted, this shows what you can do by really thinking it out with what you have. Great look, Great job. Great lesson!
 
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