Create A Black Background From A White Wall: Exploring Photography with Mark Wallace

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"How do you turn a white wall black?" - This is one of the most common questions viewers ask Mark Wallace about his lighting setups. In this episode, Mark explains how to position and control your light spill to turn white walls into black backgrounds.
Model: María Andrea
Instagram: @mariandrearm
Create High Contrast Portraits: Exploring Photography with Mark Wallace
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Follow Mark on Instagram: @jmarkwallace
Products Used:
Leica M10 Mirrorless Digital Rangefinder Camera, Black
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Leica 50mm f/1.4 SUMMILUX-M Aspherical -Black
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Profoto B2 250 AirTTL To-Go Kit
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Profoto Air Remote Transceiver
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Profoto 2' Octagonal Off-Camera Flash Softbox
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Profoto Off-Camera Flash Speedring for Profoto B1 and B2
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Profoto 2' Octagonal Off-Camera Flash Softgrid
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Production Equipment Used:
Sony Alpha a7 III 24MP UHD 4K Mirrorless Digital Camera with FE 28-70mm Lens
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DJI Osmo Pocket
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Sennheiser Evolution G3
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Flashpoint XPLOR 600 TTL Exclusive Kit
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Flashpoint Grid Set, for 8"" Reflectors, Consists of 1 each: 10 deg., 20 deg., 30 deg.and 40 deg. Grids
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#blackbackground #lightingtutorial #lightingtips

[@Jeff_H_the_Guitarist]

I love how you moved the video camera to show the wall’s proximity to the flash. Many instructional videos don’t give a clear 3D representation of the location, distance and angles of everything on-set. Brilliantly done.

[@HandlelessTML]

Thank you *SO* much, I've been trying to figure this one out all day.

[@nitablackwood6301]

👀

[@masqueman01]

The softbox grid should make a significant difference in a small studio space. I am not sure if that was mentioned, but it is something to consider to replicate the results so close to a wall.

[@THOMASTHESAILOR]

Thank you , Maria did a great Job . . Lighting is 9/10 of the shot . It can change the mood anywhere . .

[@speterlewis]

Great tutorial, Mark. By taking into account the equation for light fall-off, you can also darken your light background by moving your subject away from the background and your light toward your subject. The bigger the difference between the distance from light-to-subject and subject-to-background, the darker the background will get, even if you're shooting right at it (sounds counter-intuitive; light is odd).

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Peter Lewis kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZorLlXWid9WngJo Yep, it’s a great way to control light.

[@ponymoore6140]

Nicely explained Mark and what a super-lovely model Maria is

[@philtaylor3098]

I'm a little bit late to the party, but ....Brilliant !

[@markgilliam7872]

Great video. Can’t wait to try this. Thanks Mark for all of your great work.

[@jocelyndeguise]

Maria is just... stunning !

[@Alex_science]

What a beautiful model!!

[@GoneToHelenBach]

Great in a large studio but in a smaller room there will be light bouncing off other walls. To combat this, put a cheap backdrop stand with a black backdrop attached to it behind the model, opposite the flash and just out of frame, this will greatly reduce the amount of light bouncing back onto the white wall and spoiling the effect.

[@stephenmatthews5437]

Surely, also move the subject further from the background and move the light closer to the subject.

[@HertNiks]

Mariiiiaaaa, it snice to seee yaaa!

[@vimalneha]

Mark is great teacher!

[@Itgyrl909]

Great video!!! Btw: Maria looks like Halle Berry in the face.

[@p3nguinish]

Awesome technique, thank you! Also, how was the floor and wall built? We really need to update our photo studio. Thanks again for the great videos.

[@sidknee4975]

I think more importantly beginners will trip up setting their camera up at the black ambient picture stage. Without this step beginners will get confused with ambient light spill.

[@sakurave]

Thank you !

[@manoharmgr8235]

Super 👌👌👌👍👍💐💐🏆🏆 நன்றாக இருக்கிறது👌👌👌❤️❤️❤️

[@aspenacreschickenfarm]

What are your settings for the flash? Are you shooting in HSS? What if you’re shooting outdoors, is it the same concept? TIA

[@reverendmississippi]

Amazing

[@nuffzed2001]

what flash equipment do you need? softbox? Umbrella? I've got an issue with light spillage

[@Dustinrhoades]

Helpful. Thanks Mark

[@osiandr]

What about just moving the model a couple of steps forward from the wall? Should work just as fine, especially when shooting with a grid

[@base212assm]

wall would be grey, not black.

[@SuperQBAH]

Thank you for this video. Will I be right if I say that any colored wall would turn to black as long as the camera settings eliminate the light in space and that the light from the stobe does not hit the background? There might even be paintings and picture frames hanging on the wall. Thank you.

[@milkod2001]

That is correct.all u need to do is to have wall behind your back and model facing u.if you can.t do that and model has to stand close to wall all u can do is to take close up face portrait and stop it down to f16 to kill all background reflections.

[@insanedmedia]

Awesome

[@milkod2001]

If u still find it complicated to understand all u need to do is to switch off flash.dial on your camera f11 1/250th ISO 100.take a picture of background.all have to be pitch black.if it is not stop it further to f16. Then place model away from wall.dial flash power at 1/2 of power.take a pic.done.u might want to play with power of flash depending what ur using but don.t change any settings in camera.have fun

[@ChhayaEang]

Loved this! Thanks!

[@rfpmedia8615]

Beautiful

[@nictu-g7n]

If everything appears black to you camera, apart from when the flash fires, how do you make sure you're in focus?

[@drnimish333]

Nice 👌

[@anweshcreations6607]

Superb

[@Roberto-lc6yz]

Will this work for videos too?

[@diam8749]

Can this be done without the flashlight that’s connected to the soft box? I do t have one of those as I am just starting out. I do own soft boxes though

[@nuriucar6372]

Hallo Bro.this white backraound... Can I buy or? What this is can you writing thank you

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Nuri Ucar it’s a custom wall. It was built by the studio owner.

[@GuillermoZS]

It is funny that you have a mirror in the background that is reflecting the light from the flash right back to the wall you try to avoid 😂

[@base212assm]

so far away that it is probably several stops different, and effectively black.

[@rodolphestpreux]

I can't get the background black when I try this. Idk what I'm doing wrong. When I set my camera iso 100, shutter 200, f8 its pitch black with ambient room light on. As soon as I turn the flash on and take a photo with subject the background still appears. Not as bright but nonetheless it's still appears. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm using the godox tt685n flash with manfroto speedbox compact

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Rodolphe St. Preux with the light modifier you are diffusing the light, that softens the light but also causes it to spill in more places. Try adding a grid to control the spread of the light.

[@tabeabussmann]

You have to avoid white walls around it because the light will be reflected. Try a grid and block the sides with something black

[@h3nr1m]

i did understand nothing so flash was used or not?

[@stephenrutter5250]

Does moving the flash closer to the subject help in making the white wall black?

[@milkod2001]

Lol no.moving flash closer to subject brings more light to subject.making wall more black is done by stopping f stop to f8-16.have wall behind your back and your subject facing u.it.s that simple.

[@cosmo0080]

what is important is the distance between the flash and wall, moving the flash closer to the subject will give softer light on the subject if u move the flash so close as to block the light from the wall then yes it will effect the light reaching the wall

[@nenatirkkonen1659]

Yes it does, because then you’d reduce the flash power not to overexposed the model.

[@thepouncer01]

Of course it does, because of the inverse square law.

[@gabea.2123]

It will. The closer the light to the subject, the quicker the fall off.

[@joluperna]

Excellent video! Thanks

[@stulav844]

What about the ISO setting

[@frankp6869]

So on that final shot, there was no flash at all?

[@nickminderman7380]

Love the new intro music. Thanks for the video

[@aricmacbsb]

Amazing!!

[@thxylivx]

Still can’t figure out why it’s not working for me

[@mroblige1018]

You might have light bouncing from somewhere else instead of just going in a straight line

[@ericsellers3124]

This is not working out for me. I’ve followed everything you said to the T.

[@Cmikul25g]

this video is 5 min longer than it needs to be

[@geodude4real]

for what he actually covered, it was 6:32 longer than it needed to be... He didn't even get a full black background from the white wall, as was promised in the title... Soooo bad

[@gozoomdaddy]

Where is the frontal portrait with black background

[@Kcarneirowashere]

Could you record? Or is it just photos?

[@Kannn14]

👍

[@careylee5951]

But what about the banding?

[@JohnAmaro_Official]

maybe try with a good gpu +10 bit display

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

carey lee unfortunately that’s KZbin’s compression. In a print or a normal photo that does not appear.

[@nexx410]

What if my light isn't a flashlight

[@milkod2001]

If you mean that u want to use led lights it will also work but u still have to kill ambient light with 100 iso.f11 1/250 or whatever is your camera flash synch settings.

[@cosmo0080]

no matter

[@anandhupolaroid]

Shoot at night brother 😁

[@diam8749]

I literally just asked this same question

[@DaMyahSoLit]

Where you get the white wall

[@OzPablo1]

You can get these from Adorama. Be sure to get the pro photo brand wall

[@mintyfreshbreath3945]

i miss dean collins.

[@Vasilyev74]

Влюбился в тёлочку :(

[@RichardsWorld]

I imagine if the wall is mostly black, the rest will be easy to Photoshop.

[@MarkWallaceVideos]

Richard's World Traveler yes, but this technique is so easy there’s really no need. You can make the wall totally black, partially black, gray, or anything you want. 😊 kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZorLlXWid9WngJo

[@jackkraken3888]

I think even if the wall was white you can photoshop that as well. The issue I think for a black background is that you need to be careful not to lose the edges of the subject with a black background, sometimes the edges of the subject can bleed into a black background and that can be bad or good depending on what you want to achieve.

[@superrat-u7x]

She reminds me of a west side story