In this video, photographer Ashley Boring explains how to use the Inverse Square Law to control the color shade of her backdrop. Take a deeper look into the video to see how the shade of the backdrop changes with the light 3 feet, 6 feet and 10 feet away from the background.

Setting Up the Shot

For this shoot Ashley is booming a single FJ400 Strobe in front of her subject. This is going to create a butterfly lighting effect and produce shadows under her subjects cheekbones, nose and chin. To modify my light, she is using Westcott’s 43” Deep Umbrella with the white interior. This modifier is a broad light source that evenly lights the model and the background. Using the white interior umbrella helps Ashley avoid the specular highlights you get when using a modifier with a silver interior. That way the highlights on the skin look softer and more natural.

For this shoot, Ashley is using Westcott’s 8×13 Wrinkle Resistant Background in the Brown Sugar color. She is using the X-Drop Pro frame to support the backdrop which makes setting up the background easy.

Controlling the light and tone of your colored backdrop.

Watch Top Pro, Ian Spanier light dynamic portraits for an album cover using the X-Drop Pro.