Portrait Studio Wall Color

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Garth,

Well, you are certainly right in that there are many variables in paint color! I had only thought of about half of them.

I have your address now so I'll get those samples in the mail tomorrow. I'm looking forward to your comparisons!

Joan

[William Whitaker]

Joan,

I think you were pretty fortunate. You obviously went into the right Benjamin Moore store!

Actually, I've given up on the formula. Instead, when I paint my new studio, I'm just going to go in and choose a color that matches my paint chip sample - or maybe a little darker.

Your backdrop is a fine idea. I think you will be very pleased with it.

[William Whitaker]

And by the way Joan, let me thank you and Garth for so graciously sharing your information with everyone here. Your contributions join with a great many others in making this forum a great resource.

Bill

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Dear Bill,

I am just so happy to be able to contribute the teeniest bit of information to this forum, I have gained so much from everyone here.

Since you put your studio address on this thread, I will send you a sample of what I just got from Benjamin Moore. You might find it interesting to compare it to what you've got. I'm sending the two paint chips to Garth, we'll see what his spectrometer thingamajiggy says.

Joan

[Richard Monro]

I just had a revelation. I too am redoing my studio but am trying to match Bill's color to a Dunn Edward's paint chip. Interestingly the reflectance of that color is one of the lowest of the various grey mixtures. That means that there will be little reflected light colors influencing color mixtures. Another reason to go with a traditional color.

[Garth Herrick]

Yes, Richard, the low level of reflectance is very true. Lacking a decent window, I need supplimental artificial light (a bank of six fluorescent T-8 tubes). To get that artificial light to work, I have had to throw up two large white foamcore panels to coax the light over toward my easel. The light certainly is not bouncing off the Whitaker Gray-Green walls! That's for sure.

Garth

[Joan Breckwoldt]

I hope I'm not getting too far off the subject with this question about artificial light, but it stems from the comments about the studio wall color and how it affects the lighting on the model.

Originally Posted by Garth Herrick

Lacking a decent window, I need supplimental artificial light (a bank of six fluorescent T-8 tubes).

Hi Garth,

Hmm, lighting. Such a challenge for me. I am so inspired by the photos that Bill puts up that I am determined to get some decent lighting. If I can't take great reference photos, I'll never paint great portraits. I believe I have searched every post related to artificial lighting on this forum and finally ended up with a Commerical Electric flourescent bulb. But after a few months of using it, I've realized it's not bright enough. So, in order to go with something portable (since I need to take photos of models someplace other than my tiny crowded 'studio' space), I' m thinking of going with a white-lightning set-up like Bill described or . . . the local camera store has a couple of 250 and 500 Watt bulbs (halogen or tungsten, I was looking at flashes and wasn't completely focused on the individual bulbs, can't remember exactly what they were). This would be the 'easy', i.e. cheap, way out, but I'm not convinced this type of light is what I'm looking for. My question, when it comes to portable lighting, is the white-lighting set up the best to emmulate north light?

Originally Posted by Garth Herrick

To get that artificial light to work, I have had to throw up two large white foamcore panels to coax the light over toward my easel.

It's late at night, but I don't understand this at all! If you're using artificial light, why can't you just move your easel or move the lights?

thanks,

Joan