Shooting with a White Background
I often hear questions about how to shoot with a white background. The first time someone tries it, they will typically get a nice white spot somewhere, and a gradual fade to gray as you move away from the spot. Then, they spend a bunch of time in Photoshop making it pure white as they originally intended.
I typically spend extra time trying to get things right in the camera, so I don’t have to fix them later in Photoshop. There are a number of reasons for this, but the bottom line is I want to reduce the total time per-image I have to spend in post processing. I sit in front of a computer screen just plenty, thank you, so if I can do something in the studio to reduce it, count me in!
So let me try to talk a bit about one way to get a nice, all-white background, without Photoshop.
Waist up
If you only need to shoot head and shoulders, or perhaps even down to the waist, you might be able to get away with a single light on the background. Maybe not, but it’s at least possible. But I’m going to assume you have two lights for the background, and go from there.
This is easier than full length, because there’s a limited amount of backdrop visible behind the model. So really, you only need to light that part evenly.
I typically use two medium-sized softboxes, one to each side of the background paper, each pointing about 1/3 of the way in from the edge. Meter them together, so the whole area behind the model meters within +/- 0.2 stops or so. And overall, you’re looking for about +1 stop brighter than you’re going to use for your key light. More than that, you’ll most likely run into a lot of spill and flare problems; less than that, you’ll have problems getting your background to look pure white.
And you don’t have to use softboxes on the background here - just pick something that allows you to get even coverage across the part of the background that shows behind the model.
Full length
This one is tougher - to shoot full-length, and get a perfect white background, everything has to come together just so - because there is a LOT of background you have to light.
I start with the same two medium softboxes pointing towards the white seamless background; if you have more lights, 4 heads is even better. I start with the boxes about 5 feet high, pointing in about 1/3 of the way on the background. Then start metering again all across the background - top to bottom, left to right, and keep adjusting things until you get it pretty even (as before, ideally you want this +/- 0.2 stops).
Now, you have the problem of the floor the model is standing on. This is a tough spot to light. What I typically do is place a large sheet of plexiglass material (white or clear works) on top of the white paper you’ve pulled out. This plastic sheet will actually reflect the light hitting the background, and once you get things adjusted right, will seamlessly blend into the background.
The tough spot with all of that is the back edge of the plexiglass; you’ll sometimes get a shadow there, which appears as a dark line going across the picture. You can adjust the background lights a bit to compensate for this - try pointing them down a bit more. Or…you can use a platform.
I usually use a platform that’s about 10 inches high. I cover the platform with white seamless paper, and then put the plexiglass on top of it. The model stands on top of all of this. Once you do this, you effectively hide the part of the background that is most difficult to light (the part on the floor), and the plexiglass foreground reflects the background light…with no seam.
Note in the lighting diagram above I’m not showing the fill - just a main light and two background lights, with the platform. (Many thanks to Kevin Kertz for the lighting diagram template!)
January 16th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
This is an excellent post. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
A. Howard
January 27th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Great stuff here.. I have a question about your plexiglass. What size do you use and where did ou get it from?
January 27th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Bryan - the ones I use are around 36×72 inches, from Home Depot. I’d actually prefer larger sheets (48×96), but they’re harder to find around here and they’re more difficult for me to transport.
February 12th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Thanks Greg. I live in Colorado Springs and have the same problem. Do you find yourself have to clone out the seams between the glass?
February 12th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Bryan - no…typically, I can get the lighting set up such that I don’t have to do any photoshop work on the floor/background. No real secrets, other than what I said in this post…
April 27th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Thank you so much. I’m really struggling how to do this technique - I started by adjusting my 2 strobes until my histogram was flashing over exposed the whole background but I’m getting very washed out pictures.
I guess the softboxes help to keep the ligtht more even so as not to need such hot settings?
April 28th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Anonymous - yes, you need some kind of modifier to help spread out the light; otherwise it will be uneven, and you’ll often end up turning up the power to compensate, which causes other problems. I use softboxes, umbrellas would also work fine.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Where do you buy your platforms at? Does it also have to be the size of your plexiglass, 36×72 and where do you find the platform that size? Thanks, Jen
June 5th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Jen - the ones I usually use are homemade, I believe; the studio I normally shoot that style in has them standing up in the corner. :-) They don’t need to be exactly the size of your plexi - you’ll cover them with paper in any case, so as long as they’re at least as big as the plexiglass sheet (for safety), you don’t need to worry about it.
January 6th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Thanks for the info, I am really more interested in places (online and in CA) where you can find plexi for less…..any suggestions? I am looking for at least 4×6 feet.
February 7th, 2008 at 3:48 am
Greg
Thanks heaps. I have been pulling my hair out for weeks with disinformation and misinformation from so called knowledgeable sources. All I wanted was an in-camera solution requiring minimum PS post.
Yours works best so far. My trials refine or emphasize a few points. The more diffuse the background lighting then the better the chance of an even and consistent spread across the seamless but I feel the subject distance to lights and on to the backdrop is also important. Too short in either dimension and flare raises its ugly head. Not many sources have mentioned this. By my testing about 4 feet or more in front of the umbrellas or softboxes is good (more is better) and a further 6 feet or more to the backdrop (again more is better). Distance from the key to the subject is irrelevant excepting it’s effect on exposure and light modification characteristic. Would you agree with these conclusions.
By the way my need is to shoot people in black suits (real estate uniforms).
Thanks again and to Google for finding you,
David
February 8th, 2008 at 10:09 am
David - I’d agree that distance between the subject and the background certainly helps; too close, and you potentially see flare as well as some effects of the background light wrapping around the subject.
And also even light on the background is, as you say, quite important…I usually use medium softboxes, and I know others who use umbrellas. But this is just about light spread - you could probably use a bare strobe head if you could get it far enough away, and flag the subject from it…
February 18th, 2008 at 9:23 am
what is minimum distance between the subject and background? could 1,5 meters (about 5 foots) be enough??
great post thank you Greg
February 18th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Photo - more is better, but you should be able to work with the 5 feet you have.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Thanks, I am glad to here that!
March 16th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
This might be a stupid question. Are the lights hot lights or strobes (flashs). Thank you, Dennis
March 17th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Dennis - I use strobes, although you could do the same thing with hot lights if you wanted to…
April 15th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Greg, great tips, tried them out & the results are smashing!! Typical guy thinking that more power is better, learned the hard way with needing to do a reshoot.
Do you have any lighting tips on shooting on plexy/lexan? Small studio space, 9′ wide and around 12′ deep for model + my moving space, 2 octodome SB’s 650ws, one 900ws ST white umbrella, and small off camera hot shoe flash. Dark colors under lexan tips?
At a loss.
TIA
May 1st, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Thanks for the tips, i’ve been trying to figure out how to do a full bodied high key photo for a couple of days because I’ve just had a client request this type of shot and I’ve never done the full body before.
Just one question before I go and invest in large sheets of plexiglass. I am worried about getting a big glare reflection rather than a nice even blown out white floor. This has never been a complication for anyone?
Also I’ve had great luck keeping a nice even high key in my waist up shots by making a couple of v-flats by taping together two 4×8 foamcore sheets. I put two v-flats on either side of the background out of frame and I get nice even lighting across my background.
May 25th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Thank you! I am just starting with my studio, and these beautiful pictures are all over the internet with white seamless backgrounds. I have not been able to achieve these yet, but it seems I need to buy some plexiglass! We think the same in that I don’t like to spend forever in Photoshop trying to get what I invisioned. Thanks again.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Thanks for the great info! I have been searching for quite some time on how to get a nice reflective floor effective. I do have a question about the plexiglass…does it scratch easy? Is there some sort of hi-key paint you could use on the floor that would give you the same affect?
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Jayne - try using polycarbonate (such as Lexan) instead; it’s more resistant to cracking and a bit better about scratching. And yes - you could use just about anything that’s white and reflective on the floor…cruise around home depot and you’ll undoubtedly see some interesting options.
August 8th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
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