Main point that Gavin raises is that many/most of us are doing this just for fun. Me anyway. Which continues to make we wonder over the last five years: if so many of us are doing this mainly for fun, and almost everyone carries around a phone with a camera on it these days, how does anyone make a decent living taking pictures anymore? Maybe just a very few lucky ones. I assume most of Gavin's income derives, not from providing pictures to clients, but from teaching, making RUclips tutorials for Adorama, and workshops. Like playing the guitar: Lots of fun for many people who just enjoy singing and playing, but Eric Claptons are as rare as comets.
I agree and have had the same thoughts. I actually do work as a photographer on a part-time basis, which happened not because I wanted to turn it into a business (as sooo many people want to do these days it seems), but because I've been involved with photography for many years and the opportunities just came along. But the notion that I could give up my day job to do photography full-time and make a decent living at it is highly unlikely at best. A grad shoot here, a family there, an event once in a while - they all pay and cover off my costs like Photoshop subscription and some of the equipment acquisition, but to do it at a level that really pays is reserved for the select few. As you say, many photographers these days make their money teaching on various platforms like RUclips.
Most importantly avoid fringing around the hairline. That's always a sign that the white background is too overexposed (light is hitting the back of the head and spilling over the edge of the hair). If you notice that happening dial the power on your background light down by 2/3 or 1 whole stop. That's a guideline rather than a hard and fast rule.
On this occasion I would respectfully have to disagree with Frank. If you meter from the back of the subjects head and say get f8, what it your subject moves more towards the camera, with this method you would then have to increase the power of your lights - and yet the camera is in the same position and thus receiving even more light into the lens when the distance from camera to background hasn't changed! Meter for correct exposure then add 2/10th of a stop, or just use blinkies until the background just exceeds correct exposure. Measuring form background to subject is a recipe for disaster.
I would say it depends. I just finished a work in which I had to expose 2 steps under the background to neck meter because the client was not happy with how the hair came out (over exposed on the edge)
Hi, Let me explain the techinique slightly differently I use a reflective meter on a white background and meter around the edges of the head. The reflective meter will always give you a value of 18% gray, and as long as you know when your camera is clipping (in most cases with modern cameras this is opening 3 stops from 18% gray) you can just open for example those 3 stops and the background will be perfect white. There are also methods that use several readings with an incident meter, this can work with a proper white background, the problem is that an incident meter doesn't take into account the background. So if the background is 100% white it works, if it's dirty you are out of luck so to say. With the reflective meter you always get the same result on polar white, greek white and all other kinds of white backgrounds. And the trick also works on for example light gray backdrops, it works fast and accurate. The reason I advise to meter close to the head is because modern cameras have more dynamic range in the top end this also increases the reflection of your backdrop which will give more chance of flair and losing fine detail in the hairs. By metering close to the head it's super easy in Lr to select subject, inverse and bump the whites to create the perfect white backdrop. What a lot of people miss with the explanation is the difference between reflective (always 18% gray) and incident (light hitting the meter, not the background). Hope this explains it better. BTW When moving the subject closer or further away from the backdrop does not change the brightness of the backdrop, only the mainlight on your subject.
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Love Gary.
We love Gary too :)
Main point that Gavin raises is that many/most of us are doing this just for fun. Me anyway. Which continues to make we wonder over the last five years: if so many of us are doing this mainly for fun, and almost everyone carries around a phone with a camera on it these days, how does anyone make a decent living taking pictures anymore? Maybe just a very few lucky ones. I assume most of Gavin's income derives, not from providing pictures to clients, but from teaching, making RUclips tutorials for Adorama, and workshops. Like playing the guitar: Lots of fun for many people who just enjoy singing and playing, but Eric Claptons are as rare as comets.
I agree and have had the same thoughts. I actually do work as a photographer on a part-time basis, which happened not because I wanted to turn it into a business (as sooo many people want to do these days it seems), but because I've been involved with photography for many years and the opportunities just came along. But the notion that I could give up my day job to do photography full-time and make a decent living at it is highly unlikely at best. A grad shoot here, a family there, an event once in a while - they all pay and cover off my costs like Photoshop subscription and some of the equipment acquisition, but to do it at a level that really pays is reserved for the select few. As you say, many photographers these days make their money teaching on various platforms like RUclips.
Most people don't have a light meter, so how to do it without one?
Most importantly avoid fringing around the hairline. That's always a sign that the white background is too overexposed (light is hitting the back of the head and spilling over the edge of the hair). If you notice that happening dial the power on your background light down by 2/3 or 1 whole stop. That's a guideline rather than a hard and fast rule.
@@CameraShake Useful tip, thank you!
@ you’re very welcome :)
On this occasion I would respectfully have to disagree with Frank. If you meter from the back of the subjects head and say get f8, what it your subject moves more towards the camera, with this method you would then have to increase the power of your lights - and yet the camera is in the same position and thus receiving even more light into the lens when the distance from camera to background hasn't changed!
Meter for correct exposure then add 2/10th of a stop, or just use blinkies until the background just exceeds correct exposure. Measuring form background to subject is a recipe for disaster.
I would say it depends. I just finished a work in which I had to expose 2 steps under the background to neck meter because the client was not happy with how the hair came out (over exposed on the edge)
Hi,
Let me explain the techinique slightly differently
I use a reflective meter on a white background and meter around the edges of the head.
The reflective meter will always give you a value of 18% gray, and as long as you know when your camera is clipping (in most cases with modern cameras this is opening 3 stops from 18% gray) you can just open for example those 3 stops and the background will be perfect white.
There are also methods that use several readings with an incident meter, this can work with a proper white background, the problem is that an incident meter doesn't take into account the background. So if the background is 100% white it works, if it's dirty you are out of luck so to say. With the reflective meter you always get the same result on polar white, greek white and all other kinds of white backgrounds. And the trick also works on for example light gray backdrops, it works fast and accurate.
The reason I advise to meter close to the head is because modern cameras have more dynamic range in the top end this also increases the reflection of your backdrop which will give more chance of flair and losing fine detail in the hairs. By metering close to the head it's super easy in Lr to select subject, inverse and bump the whites to create the perfect white backdrop.
What a lot of people miss with the explanation is the difference between reflective (always 18% gray) and incident (light hitting the meter, not the background).
Hope this explains it better.
BTW When moving the subject closer or further away from the backdrop does not change the brightness of the backdrop, only the mainlight on your subject.
@@FrankDoorhof Thank you
Very interesting interview. But ...! Those terrible, intrusive and distracting subtitles are a total mess! (In my humble opinion, of course!)
Point taken :)
Rainbow flags
Exactly, why put rainbow background in the thumbnail then talk about white backgrounds.
Well spotted!