Can I get a true white background with only 2 lights and a reflector?

Henchard

7

2 Mar 2008 - 7:18 AM

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Previously posted by keithH:

'Creating the white room look can be done with two lights for a start.

You'll simply have to use one light for the subject and one to shoot out the background.
Position one light at around head height at roughly 30-45 degrees to the subject. Have your subject well forward of the background (at least 3feet and then light your background using a setting at least 1/2-1stop brighter than your subject light. You can also make your own reflectors from ally foil, white board, polystyrene sheets, painted MDF etc which will direct light back onto your subject from opposing angles and lift shadowed areas.

As you work on getting it right, you'll get areas of grey in the background due to the light being at the wrong angle, too close to the backdrop etc. These areas are easy to remove in PS.
Bring up an adjustment layer and using the highlight picker, click on an area of grey or off-white in the background.
Your background will become pure white but of course the levels will have lifted too far on your subject. So take a soft black brush and simply paint back your subject. If you go over and reveal small edges of grey, switch to a white brush and clean those edges up.

In small studio or home settings the thing to watch for is the background light blowing light back and washing the edges of your subject out.

Keep the subject well forward, don't be tempted to wind the background light power up too far - despite what you read, you do not need two stops of extra power. If you can't afford barndoors for that rear lighting, then use a large sheet of cardboard, or plasterboard to shield and direct the flare.'

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stolzy

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2 Mar 2008 - 8:09 AM

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All the above is good advice. In my makeshift studio I have a couple of 500W halogen floods pointed at the background. They're angled slightly to the centre so that the area behind the subject is fully white. There are often greyish bits around the edges of the frame, but these are easy to fix in PS. This way I can use my two flash heads for lighting the subject.

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Cristian (e2 Member)

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2 Mar 2008 - 9:27 AM

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I haven't got the luxury of a full lights set up, but do have a white backdrop that I use with a corded camera flashgun for a "high key" effect.

To light up the backdrop, I have a cheap Portaflash "slave" flash that I just fix to an old tripod, position behind the subject. This is angled slightly up and lights up the background superbly.

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mark_delta

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2 Mar 2008 - 1:31 PM

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put one light on the background, get the other on the subject and move it backwards until it reads 1- 2 stops below the second, now work out the correct exposure for the second lamp lighting the subject, use a simple reflector to light the other side to your taste, now the background will vanish to a white out if you have exposed and white balanced correctly.
Try it, its much easier than it sounds,
You will need to work your exposure from manual, to lock down the effect.
It can even be done with one light and a shade

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