How to create pure white background?

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peter - 22 May 2008 21:19 GMT

Sometimes I want to shoot some objects with a pure white background. To do
this I use a large softbox as the background and adjust the intensity to
just overexpose.

An undesirable effect is a hazy look around the edges of the foreground
object. Perhaps it is some sort of lense aberration or sensor effect.

In some movies, you can see this effect when they put an actor in front of a
strong backlight. The white light seems to bleed around the edge of the
actor.

What is the correct way then, to shoot objects with white background without
this effect?

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Klark Kent - 23 May 2008 00:33 GMT

In message news:EzkZj.25483$sX5.5248@trnddc02, "peter"
<nospam@nospam.com> burned some brain cells writing:

> What is the correct way then, to shoot objects with white background
> without this effect?

A roll of wide paper:

| 0 camera
| /|\ <-subject <[]

\ |
\ /\
\_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ <- continuous roll of white paper

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Mr. Strat - 23 May 2008 03:45 GMT

> Sometimes I want to shoot some objects with a pure white background. To do
> this I use a large softbox as the background and adjust the intensity to
> just overexpose.

Not sure in this digital age, but in the film days, you used white
seamless paper, lit it evenly, and made the background 2 stops brighter
than the subject. If you went less than 2 stops, it would be some shade
of gray - more than 2 stops and it would be burned out.

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Joseph Meehan - 23 May 2008 12:55 GMT

> Sometimes I want to shoot some objects with a pure white background. To do
> this I use a large softbox as the background and adjust the intensity to
> just overexpose.

I would try different intensities, lowering them. You might need to do
some post exposure work as well to clean up the background. It seems to me
it is just too bright as it is now. It is also possible that you are
getting flair at your lens. Take off any filters that may be on your lens
and try a lens shade to eliminate those possibilities. Maybe try a
different lens, especially a longer lens. Also are you providing subject
lighting or are you relying on the softbox for all the light?

> An undesirable effect is a hazy look around the edges of the foreground
> object. Perhaps it is some sort of lense aberration or sensor effect.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> What is the correct way then, to shoot objects with white background
> without this effect?

Signature

Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

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Don Stauffer in Minnesota - 23 May 2008 14:39 GMT

> Sometimes I want to shoot some objects with a pure white background. To do
> this I use a large softbox as the background and adjust the intensity to
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> What is the correct way then, to shoot objects with white background without
> this effect?

Indeed, it is background light bouncing off the subject. Even most
matt surfaces will be close to specular reflection with grazing
incidence light. One soon finds when doing "cutouts" in a photo
editor that if you do NOT soften the image slightly around the edges,
the result is that it LOOKS like a cutout.

A second problem could be excessive optical flare. The reflected
background if the subject is matt finish should only be a few pixels
wide at most. If the light areas cover more than that, it may well be
flare.

If the subject is a gloss finish such bleedover of background light is
inevitable. You need to reduce further the intensity of the background
lights.

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Stewy - 28 May 2008 03:28 GMT

You could try the post processing effect my using the Magic Wand to
highlight the background, feather, change the Background Layer to Layer
0, then press Delete and Save or use the Paint bucket with White
selected.

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