Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Iv always been very intrigued by those shots with a black background and single light harsh shadows on subjects (mainly portraits) I was wondering if anyone has shot photos like this before and could give me some good tips because my first attempt failed horribly ,.. What could I use as a backdrop? Lighting? ect ... heres an example of the type of photograph I mean .. even in black and white ... I don't own any flashes and I'm not rich at the moment anyone know of any easy ways to acheive this effect?

http://img2.allposters.com/images/130/039_C49587.jpg


Thanks in advance for anyhelp!

Tyler

maybe you could post a picture of what you've done and we can advise?

most of these shots have been done in studio, controlled lighting situations. Perhaps the best cheap way to do it is to find a dark room or alley, and a single lamp overhead, and you're almost there...

heres my horrible attempt lol

This is quite easy. If you are using hot lights (even a flashlight, lamp, etc.) it helps if it's overhead and slightly left or right of subject (for shadows). It also helps to have the subject far enough away from any wall so there is no light spill onto these surfaces. Then you should use a smallish aperture .. say f10-22 to make sure you kill any ambient.

If you are using a flash the principle is very similar. I would set the flash at very low power and close to the subject so the light falloff is almost immediate to kill any spill.

Hope this helps.

Ill give it a try and post the results... Thanks for the help

And while you could use black construction paper or fun foam to make a snoot, also take advantage of the flash zoom head to narrow the spill by setting it to the telephoto position.