Hi,

I'm currently filming track and field athletes and looking for
Long White Wall to film them running, hurdleing, throwing, etc...
Ofcourse budget being extremely low I can't afford a studio that has a Scyche. There are a couple of locations I've come up with.
1.One alternative would be to film them next to a "Home Depot's"out side wall.
2.Second is to film them in a Highschool gym and hang white cloth on one side of the gym.

I'm located in Burbank, and any location with in 20 min. would be
Ideal.

Thanks for your help guys.

John

I wouldn't use white unless there was no option. A light gray is much easier to deal with.

How about a gymnasium with a light gray background paper taped up horizontally on the wall. Probably a couple hundred dollars worth of paper and tape.

John,
Just out of curiosity, what is your objective? Are you trying to isolate the athletes from the background as a type of practical in-camera effect?

The ideal look that I'm going for is a clean white background(over exposed) with a well lit subject.
A Syche would be best for this, but I think a gymnasium would be a little more affordable.
I can't believe it's so hard to find a large in-door wall....

John

Most stage theaters have a cyclorama. (not movie theaters)

The trouble is the rental is high.

The problem with overexposure is that it will or can cause edge-definition problems depending on the amount of overexposure. A light gray that rings in at about 98 or 99 IRE units will be a lot more manageable. Especially if you are going to tape any dark-skinned athletes.

Mike:

Unfortunitley the edges does loose detail..
I've tried dimming the background lighting, but the background goes a bit too grey. So by using a light gray background.. would this be any different then dimming the background lighting?

No, it is about the same.

Use a Waveform monitor to set up the exposure if you have access to one.

Here is a good link for shooting just such a set-up. Lots of other good tips here also:

http://tinyurl.com/2gpg2

Go to the bottom of the page and click on the lesson: Soft Lights for Dramatic Results.

Wayne Orr, SOC

If the link is not working:

http://www.webphotoschool.com/newschool/dealer/default.asp?dealer=panavision

If that doesn't work, go to http://www.panavision.co.nz/main/main.asp and look down the page to the Photoflex school link. BTW, this is a great site for various info.

Wayne

If I need a 6' x 6' white bounce surface, I go to the dollar store and buy a shower curtain liner. Maybe these would work for a cheap background as well.

The translucent shower liners also make an adequate large soft source. As always, be careful not to get the lights to close or they will melt.