How I used paper rolls to shoot A Katana warrior

For this shoot, my main goal was to show a possible post-apocalyptic future. I wanted to get both the atmosphere and the main characters right.

I was thinking about dark and moody studio setting, and made this sketch to get my thoughts together:

I ended up creating this tube background from seamless black paper.

My first idea of making paper strips didn’t work out well, the paper was too thin to hold shape. I was kinda expecting this, so I rolled up some seamless black paper, and made tubes. Perfect detail for the background!

Here is how the backdrop was made:

I started out with marking and cutting the strips. The wider they are, the wider the end rolls will be. They do have to be at least that wide so they don’t  crease.

Next, tape the strips into rolls:

tape the strips to two light stands:

make sure that the spaces are even (or not)

Here is the back side of the construction, where you can see the tape:

This was my planned lighting using three lights:

• A key light coming off from the left using a deep reflector
• color-complementing blue light coming from the right
• Orange gelled light coming through the smoke via the tubes

All shot on a Sony A7Rii and a Canon 70-200 2.8 lens

Here are my first two tests, just to see if the setup works

For the final image I used smoke machine, it created nice effects with smoke coming out behind the tubes, and colored light filters.

Credits

• Model Elisanth (and me :) )
• Outfit by Ayyawear and Verillas.
• Eagle necklace by SSTUTTER.
• Whiteout Vampire lenses by Samhain Contact Lenses.

About The Author

Alex Zatsepin is a photographer based in Moldova. He specializes in Dark Art, fetish, and psychedelic styles. You can see more of his photos on his portfolio and his Facebook page.

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