Not sure if I would be able to do this ?
I mean images like the beautiful photos with Paola shown on the previous entry. Mainly because in my "studio" i can't fully separate background and foreground. In order to put in a colored light in the background, it needs to be rather dark there. (I worked the like that back when I lived in Enskede, at the Highway). Here i had black clothes hanging from the sealing in the middle of the room, in order to make the background a little darker, so i could fill it in with a colored spot light / background light.
Then there is the issue with the background paper I now have. It is too light gray - and has no patterns. I have so far not dared to spray it loosely with black ink, in order to re-emulate the same patterns i had in my old background paper roll (which was sprayed with black ink, so it wouldn't be so uniform - and it turned out a bit darker, too) I loved it - but eventually after 18 years, it was to no use anymore. Paper wears out after hundreds of sessions.
I can show you with portrait of Sal and Mary (31 Dec 2017)
how that background looked like. Last time i used it back on 31 Dec 2017 before going to work *LOL* The background was pretty botched. It worked mainly for black & white - but when using color - well, the badly botched "fill in" areas, where I did a really bad job...
The photo below - shows the "raw" images how it was. The enhanced version you see above - and that is a new version i just made now. I added some AI in order to extend the frame into what looks like a 6x6 frame - as if located in a much larger studio.
I love the square format - in fact, I always wanted it to be like that, with Sal and Mary dancing together. However, my room has limits... *LOL* exactly like when I lived in Enskede-Stockholm. Both room are similarly broad - but not broad enough to house a larger background paper. Or studio flashes... as those also take their space on each side of the room.
I love that background
It has something "old school style" over it - and while it is "primitive" - it really did lift many of my portraits i made in the studio in the 90s (mostly in black & white). Sure, a smooth background is cool too - but somehow got quickly boring over time.
Spraying the background while tipsy !
Originally, I took black ink, mixed it a bit with water so it wouldn't be too dark - and sprayed it lightly with help of a normal (plant) spray bottle. For unknown reasons, I was a little bit drunk when I did the whole thing at night. The only light I had in the room, was traditional tungsten light bulb light.... *rolling my eyes*
When I months later filled in some areas I felt where too dark - I have no memory of when i did that... - but I should have done it in daylight instead of tungsten light - because then you can judge the color of the gray better.
I used a retouch set of gray tones, i remember... but boy, what a lousy job !! Well, i thought it was just for black & white - and there it didn't really matter. I never envisioned in the end of the 90s, that I would one day use digital cameras to make color portraits.
The existing, clean gray background roll I have today, is slightly brighter than the one i treated with ink, above. So, i felt immediately, that it was too bright for my taste. Spraying ink on it, should bring the brightness down a couple notches... |
