Tarps for Pictures

Tarp (short for tarpaulin) is the new print medium of choice. It’s definitely cheaper than good quality paper and a lot more durable to boot. The now ubiquitous printing surface finds a variety of uses, limited only by intent or occasion.

During the campaign period for any election, you will find it with a headshot of a politician who apparently ate too many carrots (orange complexion), but chain-smokes at the same time (yellow teeth). At a toddler’s birthday party, you will find it with the cropped face of the celebrant tacked onto the body of an adult-sized cartoon character (poor Batman should have drawn up more stringent stipulations in the use of his image). And in front of your neighbor’s house, you will find an overly retouched photo of what seems to look like their child who just happened to (insert milestone here; ex. turn 18, graduate from college, pass the board, viciously attack their parents for putting up such an unflattering picture etc.)

Yet, after the occasion has passed, these tarps will mostly stay in some dark corner of the house, never to be seen again (until some relatives from abroad come visit and ‘beg’ the parents to show them the unflattering pretty picture of their kid). I’ve actually seen some tarps being repurposed as rain covers by the local tricycle drivers, which I highly commend (Note to the kid with the excessively proud parents: Why settle for exposure at the barangay-level when you can go municipal?).

I, however, found another use for these potential landfill fodder as a background for portraits. You can view my contribution to being green-minded after the jump.

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A similar material (muslin) is being used as a background in many photography studios, so it wasn’t such a stretch for me to use the blank side of the tarp for the same purpose. Adding a fair amount of (strobe) light, two pretty volunteers, and a little post-processing work; one could hardly ever tell that the pictures below were shot in a cramped copier room.

The lighting bullet points are detailed below:

• Two lights were used: one flash with a diffuser cap and strapped with a LQ softbox III was used as a main light, the other flash with a diffuser cap was used to light the background
• The main light (at about 1/8th power) was held by a VAB at about 1-2 feet above and in front of the subject’s face. The background light (at about 1/4th power) was propped on a light stand (behind the subject) and placed about 3 feet from the tarp.
• A silver reflector is being held by the subject angled up to her face for fill.

It’s not rocket science, but the price can’t be beat. Hmmm, I wonder, what else I can recycle for pictures?

More to come…