Film SLR canon Rebel. Natural light portraits with backdrop?

Question

I want to take nice portraits of my son with my film SLR rebel. I keep hearing people saying that they use natural light. I want to buy a plain black and plain white back drop and take photos of him on there, but I always get really yellow looking photos with bad shadows. I have photoshop elements to use for editing but no amount of editing can fix what I did wrong. Can anyone help suggest how to position my son, backdrop, what speed my camera should be at etc. to get that type of look. I have the kit lens (which I know isnt always the best) and I have a 75-300mm. What would you suggest? ANY and ALL help would be great.

Answer 1

OK you have severl issues.
1. Quit having the lights on in the house. The yellow is the color temp of tungstem lighting. The filament in an ordinary light bulb is Tungstem and gives off yellow light.
2. The proper focal length for a torso-head portrait is between 75 and 100 mm for a 35mm camera.
3. Use the windows in your house (Noth side) to best light your subject and white panels (cardboard is fine) to reflect light back to the subject so that unlit side is not so dark. North side since the light will be diffuse and not cause deep shadows.
4. First you need to meter the subject area and select a ASA rating of film that's appropiate.
5, Shutter speed should be at least 1/60th to hand hold.
6. Sharp background=Fstops of 8, 11,16 and 22
Soft backgrounds - Fstopfs of 2.8, 4, 5.6
7. Make sure there is reasonable separation between the background and your subject of expect a mugshot.
Hope it helps, contact me if you have any questions, I have been a wedding photographer for 25 years.

Answer 2

Are you photographing indoors or outdoors? With flash or without? There are many factors involved here. The fact that you are getting a yellow cast to your photos suggests that you may be shooting inside, under incandescent lights, with no flash. These types of lights always cast a yellow glow. To offset this, if you want to shoot indoors, you would need to use a special filter which you camera store may be able to get for you. Your other option is to shoot in natural light out of doors, in a low wind situation. Look for a soft light situation -- early morning, low clouds, no harsh sun. Shoot 100 speed film with the camera set at F16 -- or use the automatic settings on your camera. Or, use a higher speed film if you aren't sure of your ability to hold the camera still enough to shoot. Experiment and have fun. Hope this helps.