Tutorial: Portraits On White
There is something beautiful and simplistic about shooting on white. Richard Avedon was probably the first to make that look famous. I am sure there are those who preceded him. Most of the great master portrait photographers have done a series on white. Albert Watson is another brilliant photographer that comes to mind. As I have stated before, history is always repeating itself. This is why being a student of the past will serve you well.
Those who have seen my work over the years have noticed that many of my portraits are taken with a wide angle lens. When I was shooting film and using a Mamiya RB (later with an RZ), I have long considered my normal lens a 50mm. On a current full frame 35mm type digital camera that is close to a 24mm. You can see that wide angle perspective in many of my portraits from the book on the Navajo I shot some 15 years ago. I have always been drawn to the perspective you get when shooting a portrait in that manner. It really draws you into your subject giving a more intimate feeling.
For the most part, my approach with this ‘On White’ series is very similar using the “Edgy Three Light” look that I have written about in another tutorial. The main difference is you need to use a couple of lights to illuminate the white backdrop. The key here is not to over light the white or the white will begin to contaminate the subject and you will begin to get some flare as a result. You can also clean up the white later in post editing.
One additional light source that I have used is a ring flash. An example of that is on the shot of baseball player Torii Hunter shown at the top of this page.
Examples of the ‘On White” series.
LA Angels baseball player Torii Hunter for Purple sports drink.
It is very important not to give the background white sweep too much light. If so you will start to see a ghosting effect that will begin to contaminate the subject. Most digital cameras have a highlight clipping indicator that you can set so that as you are proofing your image on your monitor you can see where you have overexposed the white sweep. Decrease the background strobe output until the clipping stops.
“I've worked out a series of no's. No to exquisite light, no to apparent compositions, no to the seduction of poses or narrative. And all these no's force me to the "yes." I have a white background. I have the person I'm interested in and the thing that happens between us”. - Richard Avedon
CLASSIC QUOTE
IMPORTANT TIP!
