Portraiture help

I was asked to do a photoshoot this coming october and i need someone who can help me out with the layout. The background i should use is white wall... or considering i can use white cartolina papers for the background. Although my problem there is how can i eliminate the shadow of the subject? If I were to put a light behind the subject and another one in front of the subject, would that eliminate the subject? I may not use any flash at that moment. I'm also considering another option... If I were to use only 1 light, I should put it behind the subject and the brightness of the light should also match the brightness of my flash right? Would that eliminate the shadow too?

The thing is, I lack the equipment and since the group can't hire a professional photographer at all, I was just then asked to do the job for them. What kind of lighting I should use? Are there any limitations? oh.. and one more thing, is it important to keep the subject distant from the background? Comments and criticism are very much appreciated. I would like to hear from my fellow picturesocial people. :) Thanks in advance!

(The attachment below is the layout I made but there are no lights included in the layout so maybe someone there can help me where i should place them exactly)

Cheers
Maeda

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Layout.JPG, 9 KB

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Thomas Churchwell on August 31, 2009 at 8:41am

Place the lighting so the the refection of the light in her eyes is at 10 o'clock. That is always a winner shot. If you have two lights then buffer one to soften the shadows on the other side of her face-opposite the main light, the 10 O'clock lite.

Permalink Reply by Ed Harp on September 11, 2009 at 7:03am

It sounds like you are using tungsten lighting no strobes. Direct tungsten lighting will create very hard shadows unless diffused. Once you diffuse tungsten (continuous) lighting it takes a big hit in light output. I would call around and see if I could rent some power-lights from a local photographer. Most use Photogenic lights, then you could bounce off of two umbrellas. Here's a simple set up as far as angles go. I agree with Thomas about the 10 'clock light. That creates a nice catch light in the eye.