RE: B&W pictures for do-it-yourselfers
We used B&W film; after talking to a few places, we found out that we would get better pictures than if we used color film and developed it as B&W. Fortunately B&W film is about the same price as color film - we got ours at Target. We developed the pictures at Wal-Mart for the same price as color developing (note that this isn't true B&W developing - some pics came out with a green tinge, some with a red tinge), then picked the pictures we wanted and had B&W reprints done at a nice camera place. It was cheaper than developing all three rolls as B&W in the first place, especially since we didn't use a lot of the pictures.
FYI - we made three identical collages (like I posted) and then one smaller one with different pictures. So we would have had to order reprints either way.
Honestly, we took the pictures on a white blanket. Since we were doing close-ups of body parts, you couldn't really see the blanket much. The velvet really wasn't necessary for us. If you are doing full body shots, then the velvet would make sense.
We used natural light, and lots of it - I'm not sure how a flash would change things.
Single mom to
DS ("twice exceptional") - September 2002
DS - February 2006
DD - July 2009
DD - July 2009