I've never really been a backdrop kinda guy with my photography but since being a contestant on season 2 of the Creator Series and working closely with Background Town to test new backdrops each month, I've come to enjoy challenging myself creatively to do something out of my comfort zone and from the usual day to day projects.
Each month, a select group of us testers are given access to some upcoming potential additions to the the product line. Sometimes I have a hard time choosing because I like a few of them and sometimes I have a hard time choosing because I struggle to find one that really fits my style of photography. This go round was the latter. I went with the Abandoned Station design because it was kind of the lesser of all the evils haha and I thought I could find a way to make it work. It felt a little too much AI then I would usually gravitate towards but again I wanted to challenge myself and see how I could make it work. With it being more industrial I immediately felt something in the fitness realm but knew I needed to change it up a bit. I also didn't want to just have a random model standing there stretching in an abandoned station haha. While I was waiting for it to arrive I thought of how I could use this backdrop in a couple different ways with the same client.
For the first setup, I wanted to create an actor headshot for my client Na'sir. He's just getting started meeting with agencies and needed something that was fresh but had some interest.
The lighting for this setup consisted of a single bare bulb AD200 placed camera left and pointed into my white garage door. This was at a fairly low power since I wanted the light to bounce and fill the background just enough to bring in the visual texture that was part of the graphic in the backdrop itself. My main light was an AD300 Pro with a foldable silver beauty dish with inner and outer diffusion placed camera right at about a 45 degree angle.
In order to get the depth of field that I wanted with the gear that I have, I had the backdrop set up in my garage and had Na'Sir (along with the main light) just inside the door way between my garage and living room. Tight spaces y'all, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do to make it work!
My goal was to have some interest behind Na'Sir without it being overpowering or distracting.
For the second look I kept the backdrop right where it was and added in a third light. With the backdrop being so industrial, I thought going in the fitness direction made the most sense. I wanted to change it up though and make it a little more dynamic. I had one light with a purple gel placed camera left and pointed into my garage door again. This would bounce back on both the backdrop and onto Na'Sir. A second light placed camera right had a blue gel and was fired into the white side of a v-flat. I have a functioning garage y'all, so I needed the v-flat to get a more even bounce of color on the backdrop and Na'Sir. I kept my main light from the previous look and placed it camera right at about 45 degrees. I wanted to regular clean light on Na'Sir with the colors being more of just rim lights accenting him on each side.
Overall, I think using one backdrop for two different looks is an efficient way to give your client some unique images while maximizing everyone's time.
BACKDROP
Chiffon Elegance Dark Charcoal by Background Town
EQUIPMENT USED
Sony a7iii
Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 Sony e-mount
Godox AD600
Godox AD300 Pro
Godox AD200
24" Silver Foldable Beauty Dish
V-flat by V-flat World
MODEL
Na'sir Ellis