How To Properly Light A Vinyl Photography Backdrop
Starting off, I decided to use one of my personal favorite
Photography Backdrops, the Gold Bokeh Photography Backdrop. Bokeh Backdrops are
very versatile and this one had great contrast for my model. This being a bit
of a last minute project, I used the model that I happened to have on hand, my
little Ragdoll kitten.
Fist off, I unrolled the Gold Bokeh Backdrop. We store all
of our backdrops rolled up (but not too tightly) with both ends secured. As you
can see the backdrop looks great even though there is a tiny hint of wrinkling;
perhaps from the rubber bands used to secure the backdrop. If you’ll notice, we
don’t see any of that wrinkling in our final photo courtesy of the magic called
Depth Of Field. However, if you need to get rid of wrinkling we have a very
detailed blog post explaining exactly how to do that.
After the backdrop is hanging quite nicely on our
Photography Backdrop Stand I simply placed a throw pillow from my couch onto
the portion of the backdrop that flowed onto the floor about 6 inches in front
of the backdrop. For a larger subject you might need a larger space between the
subject and backdrop. You can see that I set up our little project in front of
a large natural light source on the left. I personally prefer using natural
light but this exact scenario could have easily been accomplished using studio
lighting as well.
For this first image, I did not have the reflector set up
and it is quite obvious! However, you’ll notice that, because the light is not
directly facing the backdrop and our subject is not right up against the
backdrop, there is no glare.
After getting this first result, which, I must admit doesn’t
look too bad, we’re going to fine-tune it a little by adding a nice silver
reflector, which is not very pricey and a great addition to any photographer’s
bag of tricks. As you can see in the next image, this makes all the difference!
The light is being reflected back to the subject, not only lighting the right
half but feathering the light to brighten the entire image.
VOILA! We have a darling photo (if I do say so
myself) by Properly Lighting A Vinyl Photography Backdrop! As you can see, my
model is not terribly excited about our little project but I am very happy with
the results! If we can get these results last minute, anyone can do it!
