Background for Confirmation & First Communions

slimboyfat

That time of year again with Confirmations & First Communions coming up in the next few months, I have being using a white background but I am looking for recommendations on a more neutral background that is easy to light using a two light set up?

Any ideas or can you tell what you are using please?

smelltheglove

Last year I used a light beige background which worked really well and complimented the skin tones, the only thing I would say it wasnt as great with the dark skin so I would switch to black or white for that.

slimboyfat

I always thought that a black background would be no no for confirmations and communions?

smelltheglove

For me I had a triple background system, white, black and beige, the white although lovely I didnt find great with white communion dresses, a back lit white would work well but I didnt have the space for that. I had seen blue used quite a bit, a mottled blue but really didnt like it which brought me to choosing beige, it was gorgeous for communions but just really really dark skin didnt always work great with it in my opnion which is why I went for black, to give a bit more contrast and it worked well, I would always give the clients the choice also and quite a few asked for black background and a black and white image.

slimboyfat

Thanks for the input.

My problem is I have only the one choice of a backgorund as I am setup in the church hall afterwards and then its like a conveyor belt to get through them all.

So idealy I need something that is easy to light and work well with my current setup which is a collapsible background.

smelltheglove

What colour do you have at the minute? As a parent to a school child the amount of times I heard mammies giving out about the old mottled background is unreal. I have already had mammies from my little ones class ask me about photographing their kids after this years communion to avoid it. Lighting wise a white background with white satin dresses isnt ideal as I said unless you have the lastolite or extra lights to light the background as evenly as the front. Apart from that I would be looking more at black or beige if you were to use just one.

Heres my brother messing getting his confo pic, my girls on white and beige. Sorry I dont have better images to link to you at the minute but just to give you a sample of the colours, if you are still stuck Ill see if I can pull out some communion ones in each colour background later on.

slimboyfat

Currently have a white and black background.

The picture, bottom right, how many lights were used in this and where were they placed?

It looks well and I really like the colour, very neutral and might be perfect for what I want unless you think black would be ok use for first communions?

smelltheglove

All of these were only 1 light and softbox, however, the space was 5.5ft wide so no space for more but the walls were all painted white to give good reflection. The power of the light very rarely changed, position never changed.

Ill try upload a couple of communion shots later and link them attach them here for you to see.