Lately I've been posting my earliest digital images on Facebook. This one precedes those. I used to work. I frequently photographed high school proms and other events. This shows how I did it. First, I suspended an airbrushed muslin background from two stands and a wooden dowel in between them. Second, three strobe lights were set up: the first, on a boom with a little softbox, illuminated the hair of the subjects, the light also creating distance between them and the background. The other two strobes were placed closer to the camera. The strobes send the light backwards into two large photographic umbrellas made of two fabrics. The outside is black which prevents the light from escaping. The inside fabric, the one that receives the light, is white. The light strikes the inside fabric and then is reflected back towards the subjects. The closer the light is to the subjects and the softer the white fabric is the softer the overall effect of the lighting. The one to the right was metered at f5.6 ASA 160; the one to the left was at a 90 degree at a 45 degree angle to the camera. then raised to slightly above head level, metered at f 8. Attached to the Mamiya RB 67 was a manual wind 100' film back. Each roll of film cost a little more than $100. After each of the 400+ exposures the film was wound manually through the back. The camera has a waist level finder, meaning that I climbed the ladder and leaned over the back to take two to three hundred images. Alan Bartl, my assistant, is taping down the background. The background itself was airbrushed by an artist, Eric Sedletzky, who created it from his imagination.
I have six copies of this background, which is 16' long and 8' wide. My son still rents this and others through our website, Dozens of Muslins. The text for this background and an actual image from the catalog follows.
"Terrazzo: "a mosaic floor of paving composed of chips of broken stone, usually marble, and cement, polished when in place." Random House Dictionary.
Uh-oh. I shouldn't have looked up the definition before I named this background. This floor is certainly not composed of broken stone, but the effect of the striated cream and aquamarine diamonds is stunning, nevertheless.
Another classic Prom background, illustrating a most successful three-dimensional effect. The brown stones in the patio, which appear to trail off into the distance, don't. And the fountain doesn't flow, and the stars don't shine. But try to tell that to your clients, who won't believe their eyes."
For those who are familiar with "trompe l'oeil" in art, meaning trick of the eye, the background in photo #1 differs significantly from the background as it's viewed through the camera. In #2 the increased appearance of depth comes from Eric's skill and understanding.
Terrazzo
