slightly to light her body. A little of the blue background bleeds onto Tonya,
but that just adds to the mood.
There are many variations to try with a simple black seamless background
set. For example, all sorts of translucent or patterned materials can be placed
between the background and subject. Your imagination is the only limit.
White Backgrounds. White seamless is just as versatile as the black. To
get that clean white look the background needs to be slightly overexposed—
about 1^1 / 2 to two stops over the main light falling on the subject.
Let’s take the white seamless and add some mirrored mylar. I love using
this stuff; it’s like adding another extra-large softbox with a highly specular
quality. I picked a three-quarter length of Denise (facing page, bottom left)
to illustrate this. The specular quality of the mylar helps make her skin glow.STUDIO AND INDOOR PHOTOGRAPHY 63Sometimes just simple and white can be very
dramatic. It provides complete focus on the
subject, as in this fashion-style portrait of
Fawn.