Paint color for a portrait studio?

Rlibersky · Oct 22, 2008

I was shooting a portrait last night in a studio painted flat white. It was like shooting inside a soft box. The bouncing of light made it impossible to have any contrast from one side to the other.

I fixed the issue by hanging blankets. This adsorbed the light before it hit the wall and affected my exposure.

My question is what color can I paint this studio to prevent the bounce? I tend to like high contrast portraits and need to cut the light down. Would painting the walls an 18% Grey be to dark, psychologically, to work in? Would painting it a color change the color of the light and effect my film?

Any help is appreciated
Randy

Lee L · Oct 22, 2008

Keep the walls white and either put up movable black curtains or use panels to block the unwanted bounced light. You solved the problem intuitively and correctly. You can also use barn doors, gobos, etc to keep the light off the walls or ceiling in the first place. Don't paint the walls with a non-neutral color, it will affect your color balance and perhaps differently affect highlights or shadows, creating problems that are hard to solve on film. A somewhat smaller black panel or two close to the subject can counteract a large reflective wall area. A black walled studio is depressing, eats light, and feels like an unwelcoming cave to sitters.

Lee

(gobo = a panel, card, or screen used between a lens and light, or between a light and objects to control or prevent light from hitting objects you don't want it on.)

nyoung · Oct 22, 2008

Many years ago, I was fortunate enough to spend a day (for free) hanging out with the late Dean Collins while he lit and shot a six-foot tall bronze for the artist's ads. He set up the piece in a gymnasium with no windows so he could control absolutely all the light on the set. Save for his hot lights directed on and through his various panels we worked the day with no other light in the "studio."
Given that background, to my mind, flat black would make sense but Lee does have a point about it being off-putting to sitters. The size of your space will make all the difference. I've shot many theatrical portraits on black stages backed with black panels or curtains but they weren't "caves" because of the size.
I would try a black wall behind the sitter and 18% grey on the side walls or some such combination depending on your shooting style.
If you own the space or have a lease that allows you to paint, paint is relatively cheap and easy to change out as long as its not a huge space.
Also, 3/4" PVC frames covered with cheap (Walmart) fabrics (maybe even sheets from sale bins) in whites, greys and blacks will allow you to do a lot of experimenting at little cost.
Yes, colored walls will effect your film to the extent light bounces off the wall and onto your subject. Distance between the wall and the subject will govern how much of that effect you get.

Lee L · Oct 22, 2008

Speaking of Dean Collins, his take on building inexpensive lighting controls is here: http://www.software-cinema.com/tinkertubes/tt-book.pdf

How to control light with cloth and PVC pipe frames and structures. Inexpensive, easily modified to your needs, and very effective.

I recently came up with some collapsible black panels made from the foam core backgrounds used for "science fair" style project displays. like this: http://cdn.dickblick.com/items/131/35/13135-group3ww-l.jpg They fold, and you can make a tape hinge to stack them two high as a self-supporting screen. This makes a 6 foot tall and about 4 foot wide standing panel, but will fold down to a 4-ply "stack" that's 2 feet by 3 feet. If you need more height, you can add another section on top, and for more width, put up two side-by-side. I also made white ones for bounce and gobo purposes. Much cheaper and more versatile than painting walls black. Foam core project backgrounds are easy to find at drugstores, discount stores, craft stores, and office supply stores.

Lee

Frank Szabo · Oct 23, 2008

I couldn't stand the idea of black walls and like Randy, had experience with white.

The last time I painted, I took an 18% gray card to the local paint shop and told them to match it. That got rid of reflections and didn't leave the place looking like it was ready for a Goth-fest.

JBrunner · Oct 23, 2008

White, with 4x8 black/white foam core to use for negative or positive fill. I find it far easier to take light away than to add it. YMMV.

eddym · Oct 23, 2008

How big is the studio? When I had my studio, it was only about 12 feet wide and 20 feet long. I painted the walls white so I could bounce light off them for soft ambient light if I wanted to. But I more frequently shot high contrast portraits with just one softbox, a hair light, and a reflector. I used a dark background and never had any problem with light reflecting from the white walls on both sides. No gobos needed. Were your lights the only ones on in the studio, or did it have ambient lights as well?

TheFlyingCamera · Oct 23, 2008

I found a paint color (whose name I can't recall exactly at the moment) at Benjamin Moore that was a dead match for 18% gray. I painted my studio when I had one in the house with that color, and it worked great. The nice thing about that color is that it makes it easy to darken/lighten by moving lights or increasing power output. I think the color was called something like Confederate Gray. The studio had 12' ceilings, and was 10' x 20'. It was a great size for doing individuals, from headshots to full-length, but anything more than duos was not really viable.

Frank Szabo · Oct 23, 2008

TheFlyingCamera said:
I found a paint color (whose name I can't recall exactly at the moment) at Benjamin Moore that was a dead match for 18% gray. I painted my studio when I had one in the house with that color, and it worked great. The nice thing about that color is that it makes it easy to darken/lighten by moving lights or increasing power output. I think the color was called something like Confederate Gray. The studio had 12' ceilings, and was 10' x 20'. It was a great size for doing individuals, from headshots to full-length, but anything more than duos was not really viable.

That's what I found - any lighting effect wanted had to be consciously selected and set up as the walls took or added nothing due to the neutral tone.

Rlibersky · Oct 23, 2008

Thanks for the suggestions. The room is about >20'x>20'x9' high. I turned off the room light so just the modeling light was illuminating the room. I had a simple 2 light set up when I turned the fill light off the resulting portrait was the same. I think I will try the black fabric/foam core first as this would allow me to be more flexible.

Thanks
Randy

greybeard · Oct 24, 2008

just the modeling light was illuminating the room

This tells me that you are using flash, so homemade drapes, PVC frames with Wal-Mart cloth and the like are probably safe enough. Hot lights are a different story---any large, vertically hanging piece of fabric, even in a room as large as yours, is a real fire hazard if there is any kind of ignition source. Once a fire starts, a lot of heat and noxious smoke is produced very quickly.

I tried the house paint-on-muslin approach that amateur theater groups use, found it effective but cumbersome (stiff and dusty) and finally ordered some flameproofed duvetyne from Filmtools in LA. Grommets and a row of cup hooks serve in place of drapery rods.

"Enlarging" the room with black drapes made a world of difference in the quality of the light on the subject; I plan to repaint the muslin flat white for use as an adjustable bounce surface so that I don't have the bases of PVC stands underfoot unless I really need them for positioning.

PanaDP · Oct 29, 2008

The duve you used is perfectly safe around hot lights. That's what it's made for. Try to light it, it won't work. You can burn it through but it won't sustain and spread a flame.

Edwardv · Oct 30, 2008

Whatever paint you decide on make sure it is flat.

Jim Noel · Oct 30, 2008

I like warm white because I can very its color easily white the color of the exposing light.

AgCl4ever · Nov 8, 2008

I share an all white studio with windows. Another studio in the building is all black, window blocked out. Given a choice I would go all black - the light only goes where you put it.

Paint color for a portrait studio?

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